Puttur civic body, forest dept spar

Former chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda’s home town has been witnessing a pitched battle between the Puttur Town Municipal Corporation and the forest department, over shifting the department’s offices at the heart of the town to make way for a parking lot to be built as part of the upcoming bus stand. However, residents and environmentalists have raised concerns as this will lead to the felling of close to 75 trees, some of which are more than 100 years old.

The forest department was allotted 1.54 acres for the range forest officer’s office and the department’s quarters in 1915. Since then, the town has grown all around this plot and now the department office and the cluster of quarters are situated at the centre of the town. For the last 97 years, the forest department has been planting and protecting trees in the plot. “There are 75 trees of which 65 are over 100 years old. These trees provide the much-needed green cover for the town. But Town Municipal Corporation is planning to acquire the land and raze down the trees. We have questioned the validity of this proposal,” said Vivekananda Shenoy, an elderly resident.

The deputy commissioner’s office has issued an order to the forest department to hand over the land to the revenue department. “The district office has the power to take back revenue land for the town’s growth. There is no order to prove that the land belongs to the forest department,” deputy commissioner NS Chennappa Gowda told DNA.

Municipal council chairperson Kamala Anand said: “We have asked the council to take over the land for building a parking lot. But we will ensure to cut only less number of trees.”

Only a handful of people are rallying around the range forest officer R Sridhar while the entire district administration, civic body and elected representatives are trying to take over the land from the forest department.