Bosky Khanna By Express News Service BENGALURU: A high-level committee constituted under the Chief Secretary and forest department to find the extent of encroached forest land in Bengaluru found that 599 acres of land given to HMT Limited in the 1950s continues to be a reserve forest patch till date. This land has now created a rift between the revenue and forest departments. Many IAS officers are of the opinion that this prime land be handed over completely to HMT. They have asked the forest department to prepare the denotification papers. According to realtors, the land located on Ballari Road costs not less than Rs 4,000 per square foot, currently. “It is a notified reserve forest patch. But revenue department officials and the state government want the land to be handed over to HMT, which has already stopped operations. The government leased out the land to HMT without denotifying it in the 1950s. The lessee further sold the land to private builders to raise money. The state government is unable to recover the illegally sold land and even trace the lease documents. Thus the committee wants to set the anomaly right,” sources in the committee told TNIE. The forest department has requested the state government to at least hand over the undeveloped parts of the 599 acres which can be converted into green cover to increase lung spaces in Bengaluru. According to forest department records, there are only 47,951.12 hectares of land available with it. But revenue department officials argue that since it is already a demarcated area, it cannot be given back. The HMT land has been under litigation for over two years now. Cases were handed over to CBI and even heard in the Karnataka High Court. Despite repeated attempts, HMT officials were not available for comment. This is not the only land the forest department wants back. It wants to acquire the undeveloped lands on the Bengaluru University campus on Mysuru Road. Forest officials are yet to survey the lands there to know the exact extent.

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