HMT acted like real estate firm, sold forest land: Khandre hits back at Kumaraswamy

Bengaluru: Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre on Tuesday hit back at Union minister H D Kumaraswamy by reiterating the department's stance that the land occupied by Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) Limited in north Bengaluru was a notified forest and cannot be sold or purchased without getting necessary clearances.

The minister held a press conference to reply to allegations by Union minister H D Kumaraswamy that the state forest department was trying to grab land that was purchased by the HMT and hand it over to some builders.

The land, part of the Peenya Jalahalli Plantation, was notified in the state gazette as forest on June 11, 1896. The Forest Department had in 2015 issued eviction notice to HMT and others under Section 64A of the Karnataka Forest Act.

Refuting Kumaraswamy's claim that the land was purchased by HMT in 1963, the minister pointed to an earlier claim that the land was "gifted" to the company.

"Diversion of forest land for non-forest use is not allowed without denotification and getting necessary clearances from the Union government under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. HMT is acting like a real estate agency rather than a public sector undertaking. Between 1997 and 2011, the company has sold 160 acre of the land in question to various parties for Rs 313.65 crore," he said.

The minister released a list of 43 companies, institutions and private builders to whom HMT sold the land. The list included several builders, including Brigade enterprises, AMR Constructions, Macro Precision Components, Bagamane developers, state-owned banks, Raman Research Institute and Dooradarshana Kendra among others.

Referring to the Karnataka High Court judgment in the diversion of land for Sharavathi project affected people, Khandre said the state government had no powers to divert forest land unless approved under the Forest (Conservation) Act.

"The Supreme Court has recently held that 'once a forest is always a forest - environment is more important than civil rights'. Once recovered, the entire area will be converted into a lung space for Bengaluru," he said.