Karnataka: Survey for elephant corridor complete

In 2011, the order was first passed by the Lok Adalat to transfer the land at Shivanahalli village in Survey Number 69, which is adjacent to the Bannerghatta National Park (BNP), to the forest department. Last year, when IAS J Manjunath took charge as the Bengaluru urban deputy commissioner, he had ordered for the survey of the land.

Confirming the development to indianexpress.com, Manjunath said, “The survey of the land was pending for years. So, the moment I took charge as Bengaluru urban DC, I ordered for the completion of the survey. I was personally involved in the survey. The survey has been completed and the sketch has been shared with the forest department. We felt that the corridor will play an instrumental role in securing the area for the elephants and in reducing human-animal conflict. There were certain challenges as well. The land adjoins Bannerghatta National Park and has several habitations, including land granted to villagers decades ago for cultivation. So, we have to see if somebody is illegally occupying the land.”

Meanwhile, activists have lauded the efforts of the deputy commissioner.

Founder of NGO Project Vruksha Vijay Nishanth said, “It was good to see that the urban deputy commissioner has got the survey completed in less than a year. Over the years, this issue was kept on the backburner. This corridor will play an important role for elephants.”

Another NGO Bannerghatta Nature Conservation Trust was also involved in highlighting the issue of the importance of the elephant corridor.

On November 19, 2020 the staffers from the forest department had an altercation with the villagers, who claimed that they own the land. However, the encroachers had to leave after the officials told them unless a joint survey was conducted by the deputy commissioner, forest and revenue departments, they cannot claim ownership of the land in contention.