A day after Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre directed officials to remove encroachment on nearly two lakh acres of forest land in Karnataka, the Forest Department on Wednesday took into possession 6.5 acres of encroached land in the B.M. Kaval buffer zone of Turahalli reserve forest.
A team of forest officials used earthmovers to raze a constructed shed on the encroached land and restore it by planting various species of trees, including bamboo, on the border.
The 6.5 acres of forest land, which is valued to be ₹60 crore, was allegedly encroached by a person named Madhusudanananda Swamy. As the encroachers did not possess revenue documents, purchase deed, sanction letter, cultivation certificate related to the forest land, the Assistant Conservator of Forest of the division had ordered the encroachers to vacate the land in August 2017.
