Karnataka Forest Department Concerned Over Forest Area Handed Over To Resort Owner

Forest department officials now claim that revenue department employees have illegally given over forest land in three parcels to a large resort operator, who has also begun sending safari vehicles into the forests toward Sakleshpur.

Forest officials, enraged by the trespass and are preparing to file a case in the Karnataka High Court over the revenue department and the resort owner. The management has already filed a lawsuit against the resort and revenue department in court. It has also filed the complaint against the resort's owners.

According to a senior forest department official, the1920 land records mentioned that the area is declared as forest land under Section 4. The revenue department officials gave over the land on Survey Number 92 in Achhanahalli, Moikangudda, without our approval. Forest lands cannot be transferred for any other purpose without the authority of the Supreme Court.

As per the official, the revenue agency gave out 5.24 acres of land on Survey Number 92 in 2015, 5 acres in Survey Number 157/2 in 2017, and 8 acres in Survey Number 153 in 2021, reported The New Indian Express.

The forest rangers claim that the resort continues to function despite the fact that the resort owner has been served with a notice. They also claim that resort vehicles trespassing into forest grounds have been seized, but that they continue to enter. Tourists who went into the forest without permission have also been detained.

The Hassan DC has stated that he will investigate the incident, however, the forest department has stated that this is not the only case. He mentioned that apart from many individual residences and properties, there are nine more resorts that have gotten land in a similar manner.