Farmers from Boodanur to protest against Forest dept in H D Kote today

When Periyanna died, he left three acres of land for his three sons that were equally shared among them. The three brothers continued farming and planted 450 coconut saplings a decade ago. They are yielding coconuts since last year. But, now, they are set to lose their lands, following a notice served on them by the Forest department.

Periyanna’s sons Neelakanta, Mooken (Thambi) and Sanjeeva are among the 85 families at Nanjaiah Colony in Boodanur village, on the fringes of Sollepura Reserve Forest in H D Kote taluk in the district, who are on the verge of losing their source of livelihood.

In a notice served by the Forest department on January 23, the dwellers have been instructed to vacate over 200 acres of agricultural lands within four days — by January 27. Or else, the Forest department will evict them.

Addressing media persons, here, recently, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) district unit president Bheemanahalli Somesh informed that the farmers of the colony, belonging to Scheduled Castes, have been asked to vacate their lands, although they have been tilling them with full ownership since the past several decades. The timing of the notice is such that the officials, including the Deputy Commissioner, were busy with the Republic Day related arrangements, tactfully preventing the victims from meeting them. So, the residents have planned a mega protest at H D Kote on January 27.

Somesh said, following a government order on November 2, 1975, around 40 families were granted three acres of land each at the colony under survey number 54.  The land belongs to the Revenue department as mentioned in grama thana, and the title deeds were issued during the same year. The right to tenancy certificate (RTC) was issued on November 21, 1960, facilitating the farmers to take up agrarian activities.

Hence, the farmers were cultivating crops like ragi, cotton, banana, turmeric, besides developing coconut farms and growing horticultural crops. On September 15, 2008, another 45 dwellers were given title deeds to cultivate the lands. Now, most of the farmers are second generation cultivators, who have inherited the lands from their ancestors.

However, the residents got a shock on January 23, when individual notices from the office of the assistant conservator of forest, H D Kote sub-division, landed at their doorsteps.

The notice (in Kannada) reads: “A notice was served on you for encroaching the lands on survey number 54, Boodanur, Sollepura Reserve Forest, Kasaba hobli, H D Kote taluk. Though adequate time was given to submit the relevant documents, you have failed to produce them. So, you have been asked to clear the encroachment on your own or else the department (forest) will take action to clear them on January 27. You have been asked to voluntarily remove the crops”.

Somesh said, the Forest department has been adducing at the Supreme Court order to clear encroachment on forest lands.  But, in another order, the apex court has directed the States against vacating farmers tilling land under different types including bagair hukum. The Forest department has demarcated the area by digging elephant proof trenches (EPT) up to 20 feet and erecting solar fence in the area.

However, without conducting any joint survey of the lands, the Forest department is accusing the dwellers of encroachment.