The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC), operating under the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), has recently brought to light significant irregularities within the Karnataka State Forest Department concerning the selection of land for compensatory afforestation (CA).
During a late September meeting, the MoEF&CC decided to postpone a proposal from M/s. MSPL Limited. This decision came after a detailed review revealed numerous inconsistencies in how land was chosen for CA in Karnataka’s Belagavi district.
The company’s proposal included identifying approximately 30 hectares of non-forestland across Survey Nos. 6/3, 6/4, 6/5, and 6/6 in Amagaon village, Jamboti Hobli, Khanapur Taluk, Belagavi district, intended for CA. Curiously, this land falls within the boundaries of the Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary.
These specific land parcels were officially transferred to the Forest Department in January 2023. Subsequently, the Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF) for the Belagavi division issued certificates confirming their suitability for CA, in connection with two previous forest clearance requests.
Alarmingly, the FAC meeting minutes reveal that the very same land parcels had already been designated as “Deemed Forest” through a Karnataka Government notification on May 5, 2022. This crucial detail was seemingly overlooked, as the land was still recommended for CA without adequate assessment of its legal or ecological standing.
Further complicating matters, on November 11, 2024, the Belagavi DCF formally requested the Deputy Commissioner of Ballari to remove these survey numbers from the “Deemed Forest” list. The justification provided was that these were privately purchased lands and had been mistakenly included. This attempt to delete them from the forest classification, despite earlier recommendations for afforestation, highlights a contradictory and confusing approach.
This chain of events clearly exposes a contradictory process: private lands were first recommended for compensatory afforestation as “non-forestland,” only for the department to later seek their removal from the “Deemed Forest” category. Such actions underscore a concerningly casual and negligent attitude towards a critical environmental responsibility.
RTI activist Raghavendra commented that this entire episode spotlights significant procedural failings and a severe lack of due diligence within the Forest Department when identifying suitable land for compensatory afforestation.
Raghavendra further highlighted that officials in the Belagavi Forest Division wrongly recommended compensation for at least ten “ineligible beneficiaries” under a voluntary relocation scheme from Talewadi village. This was despite the fact that the land designated for their relocation had been privately bought by an individual from Hassan as part of a compensatory afforestation initiative.
Mr. Raghavendra stressed that this points to a troubling pattern of negligence and oversight in land verification and compensatory afforestation recommendations by Karnataka Forest officials. He urgently called upon the government to launch a thorough departmental inquiry and hold those responsible accountable. He warned that such repeated oversights not only undermine public trust but also completely betray the core objectives and intent of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.