Chikkamagaluru Deputy Commissioner K.N. Ramesh has clamped prohibitory orders in Masagali reserve forest area with effect from 6 a.m. on May 10 to allow the clearance of forest encroachment. The prohibitory orders will be in place in Shiravase, Byaravalli, Masagali, Shiraguru, Karaguru and Beranagodu village limits, said a communication from the Deputy Commissioner’s office on Saturday.
The administration has taken up clearance as per orders from the Supreme Court. When the prohibitory orders are in place, the people are not allowed to assemble in large numbers or carry lethal weapons or burst explosives. However, there would not be restrictions on marriages, family programmes, final rites of the dead and agriculture activities.
The Supreme Court ordered the clearing of encroachment in the reserve forest on April 7, 2017. The Forest Department has cleared a few patches of the encroached area so far. As many as 211 families with houses and land they cultivated for generations are to be evicted. The forest dwellers have been demanding a fair compensation package to leave the place.
The move to evict them without providing proper compensation has left the residents in shock. M.L.Basavaraj, president of Masagali Forest Dwellers’ Struggle Committee, said that the forest dwellers had been demanding at least four acres and 38 guntas of land, besides monetary compensation for the houses they had to leave. “We approached Revenue Minister R.Ashok during his recent visit to Chikkamagaluru. But he did not respond to our problems”, he said.
Worried about the proposed eviction process, the struggle committee has decided to meet the Deputy Commissioner on Monday. “We will meet the DC and appeal him once again”, Mr. Basavaraj added.
