Yash's 'Toxic' lands in row for felling trees in forest land

Bengaluru: Kannada film Toxic starring Yash (Naveen Kumar Gowda) has landed in the middle of an ongoing row between the Forest Department and the Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) with the Forest Department finding "hundreds of trees" felled in Peenya Plantation to erect the movie set.

Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre directed officials to take action against those responsible for felling of trees in the area declared as reserved forest but occupied by HMT.

In a letter dated October 29 and written to the Additional Chief Secretary of the department, Khandre said the 599 acre has been declared as a reserved forest through a gazetted notification. The land was given to HMT without denotification of the forest.

Citing the Supreme Court order declaring that 'once a forest is always a forest unless denotified', Khandre said the land occupied by the company continues to be forest. Khandre's action to recover the forest land has evoked strong response from Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Steel H D Kumaraswamy who has argued that HMT is the rightful owner of the land.

"It is observed that HMT is providing land for daily rent and a film called 'Toxic' is being shot in the area from the last few months. Hundreds of trees have been cut to erect a massive set in the area. In view of this, compare the satellite images of the area to assess the tree felling and check whether permission has been given for the same. If trees were cut without clearances, register a case for violation of the forest laws," the letter said.