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This is an archive article published on August 5, 2024
‘If we don’t wake up now…’: Karnataka minister says task force will clear Western Ghats encroachments
Karnataka Forest Minister's statement comes when rescue operations are underway in Wayanad district, where catastrophic landslides have left at least over 200 dead and many displaced.
Karnataka Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre (File Photo)
Karnataka Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre Sunday announced that the state government will form a task force to clear encroachments in the Western Ghats, following landslides in Shirur in which over 10 people were killed, and said, “if we don’t wake up now, the next generation won’t forgive us.”
Instructions have been given to first vacate the illegal resorts and homestays built by encroaching forests on a large scale, and then to vacate the plantations and buildings, he said.
His statement comes when rescue operations are underway in Wayanad district, where catastrophic landslides have left at least over 200 dead and many displaced.
The task force will be formed under the leadership of Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Forest Force and will carry out “forest encroachment clearance operations in the Western Ghats from Monday.
“I have directed officials to carry out clearance operations in all the cases where the 64A (of the Karnataka Forest Act) process has been completed with regards to the encroachment in the forests in the Ghat areas after 2015,” he said, adding that the task force will also initiate actions in consultation with the Advocate General. Section 64A of the Karnataka Forest Act deals with encroachment of forest land and ways to evict encroachers.
“Hills that existed for thousands of years have disappeared, landslides are occurring in the Western Ghats region of the state including Shiradi Ghat and Charmadi Ghat,” he said.
Noting that unscientific cutting of the hill at 90 degrees angle during the upgradation and expansion of roads in the western ghats region has led to landslides, he said contractors and engineers carrying out such work have also been served notices and directions issued to take action against them.
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