As much as 2.5 lakh hectare forest land in Karnataka is yet to be declared as reserve forest by the state government, shows data. Most of these forest lands, as pointed out by senior officials of the Forest department, have been lost to encroachments. According to the Karnataka Forest Act, 1963, whenever it is decided to declare any land a reserved forest, the state government has to issue a notification under Section 4 of the Karnataka Forest Act specifying, as nearly as possible, the extent and limits of such land. The government then appoints a Forest Settlement Officer who concludes the final settlement to the government. The government, under Section 17 of the Act, should finally publish a notification to declare the land a reserve forest. Although the Supreme Court had directed the state government to clear all the cases pending under Section 4 for decades, the government is yet to move on the issue. On condition of anonymity, a senior official of the Forest department said, “Some of the declared forest areas under Section 4 have been lost to illegal grants by the revenue department and encroachments. Unfortunately, even the Forest department did not take any action under the provisions of law. Some of the forest areas under Section 4 are waiting to be declared as a reserve forest since 1920. The intention of the government matters most in these cases,” he added. According to the papers accessed by The Indian Express, the Koppa wildlife division has 30,970.65 hectare land and the Chikkamagalur wildlife division has 16,067.41 hectare of forest land under Section 4 still waiting to be declared as a reserve forest.
