Nobody owns house, property or land in this village recorded as ‘proposed forest’ in Shivamogga

For several years, the residents of Karimane, a village in Hosanagar taluk of Shivamogga district, have been fighting for the rights over the houses, sites, and land they have been in possession of. Applications seeking permission to build houses on the sites allotted under the Ashraya housing scheme, grant of land under Section 94C of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act for the construction of houses, and regularisation of ‘bagair hukum’ cultivation have all remained pending over the decades.

GP office too

As over 185 acres in survey number 106 of Karimane have been identified as ‘proposed forest’ or Soochitha Aranya in Kannada, the villagers have not been able to get rights over their properties. In fact, even the office of the Karimane Gram Panchayat exists on the land identified as proposed forest. The bus stand, anganwadi, school, and the road that passes through the village all come under the same category of land.

Devamma Gopal, president of the panchayat, is among those fighting for the rights over the land. She has no khata issued for her house in the village. Also, the Forest Department has not honoured people seeking land as per the Forest Rights Act.

Long fight

“This is a strange case. We have not been allowed to build houses because it is forestland. However, the applications submitted under the Forest Rights Act are also pending. We have been fighting against this injustice for long,” said S.M. Harish, a resident of the village.

A majority of the residents in the village are those displaced following the construction of dams for hydel power projects in the district. Of them, 86 families were allotted sites in the village in 1991-92. They got khatas for the sites. However, the next year, the entire area was marked as ‘proposed forest’. Since then, none of the beneficiaries have got permission to build houses on the sites.

Ms. Gopal told The Hindu that every time the panchayat held a grama sabha, a meeting with the villagers, people raised the same issue. “As many as 43 families, including mine, are waiting for the grant under Section 94C,” she said. The issue has become a stumbling block to even granting land for the burial ground in the village.

Following repeated demands and protests by the villagers, MLA for Tirthahalli Araga Jnanendra and Deputy Commissioner Gurudatta Hegade visited the village.

When The Hindu contacted Mr. Hegade, the officer said he was aware of the issue. “The land has been recorded as forest. Once the land is recorded as forestland, it cannot be taken back,” he said.

Opportunity to review

He said that following a recent Supreme Court direction, there was an opportunity to review the deemed forests. “Considering the old satellite maps, we can restore the status of the land. The State government is expected to launch a mobile-based application for this process. We have assured the villagers of resolving the problem,” he added.