Karnataka to make deemed forest maps available online soon

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: Karnataka Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre on Thursday said a joint survey with the revenue department is the solution to resolve confusions created by any errors in the deemed forest notification.

He also asked the officials concerned to make the map of 3.3 lakh acres of deemed forest available to the public to bring transparency over the ownership claims.

'Deemed forests' are wooded areas that are generally known to be forests but are not classified as such by central or state authorities in official records.

The issue regarding the forest-revenue land was discussed by Khandre at a highlevel meeting held with Energy Minister K J George, who is also the in-charge minister for Chikkamagaluru district. Khandre said that the state government has already finalised the list of deemed forests in an affidavit submitted before the Supreme Court. The minister also assured that the exercise to evict encroachments will be put on hold until the joint survey is completed. Addressing the rising incidents of human-animal conflicts, the minister said that the lack of adequate rain has caused problems, and that railway barricades will be erected to prevent wild elephants from straying into human habitats.