ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

SC order on forest encroachment makes Karnataka CM see political conspiracy

The Supreme Court order on largescale encroachment of forest land by coffee planters in Karnataka rocked the state assembly on Wednesday, with the Opposition accusing the government of attempting to shield the planters, including state Janata Dal president B L Shankar.

For his part, Chief Minister J H Patel saw a political conspiracy in it against the ruling party.

Speaker Ramesh Kumar allowed a discussion on the issue after question hour when the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which gave notice for an adjournment motion on the issue, wanted it to be raised immediately after the House met.

Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge accused the government of inviting the apex court's wrath by not acting against the planters. The government had failed to present a status report to the SC despite the court seeking it before December 12, 1997, he charged.

Patel, who intervened to defend Shankar, said it was a political conspiracy played by some leaders in Delhi and Bangalore to blacken the JD's image. The government would respond after obtaining the copy of the SC order. It would place before the House the details of encroachment once the ongoing survey was completed, he said.

Giving a clean chit to Shankar, Patel pointed out that the Dal chief himself had sought for a survey when charges were leveled against him last year. The chief conservator of forests and the surveying officer had informed him that a portion of the coffee plantation given to Shankar by his father-in-law was forest land.

Refuting the Opposition charges of governmental inaction, Forest Minister D Manjunath said chargesheets have been filed in 76 cases of encroachment. In 67 other cases, he said, those occupying forest land have been evicted. The government would take stern action after the survey was completed, he added.

Kharge said a SC division bench had indicted the state of allowing the big fish, including Shankar, to go scot free. It had also sought the government's views on 416 cases of encroachment, he claimed.

BJP leader K S Eswarappa, reeling out statistics, alleged that about 3,975 acres of forest land had been encroached by planters. Shankar and his family members alone had encroached upon 31 acres of forest land, he charged.

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M C Nanaiah said the government would be filing its reply to the SC on the action taken and also about the resurvey of encroached land in Chikmagalur district.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report