Bengaluru: Days after permitting the full-scale resumption of jungle safaris at Karnataka’s tiger reserves, chief minister DK Shivakumar, in a stern push to clear long-pending bottlenecks in forest approvals, set a strict July 15 deadline to dispose of all pending forest clearance proposals, particularly those related to the industrial and mining sectors. He warned officials that delays in key development projects would no longer be tolerated.Chairing a review meeting of the forest department at Vidhana Soudha on Monday, Shivakumar took strong exception to the mounting backlog of forest clearance cases, stressing that bureaucratic delays were not only stalling major infrastructure and industrial projects but also causing significant revenue loss to the state.“If govt land allotted for projects remains idle for five or six years without any work commencing, the state loses valuable revenue. By then, production costs, commodity prices and the overall project cost also increase because of the delay. Such inaction will not be tolerated,” Shivakumar told officials.Referring to several key infrastructure projects awaiting forest clearances — including the contentious Goa-Tamnar transmission project, the Sharavathi Pumped Storage Project at Gerusoppa, the Kalasa-Banduri project and the BDA Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) — the chief minister directed officials to expedite approvals pending with both the state and central forest departments.While emphasising the need to follow due process, Shivakumar made it clear that procedural compliance should not become an excuse for indefinitely delaying development-related projects. Amid rising incidents of human-wildlife conflict, the chief minister also reviewed measures related to the removal of forest encroachments, mitigation of human-animal conflict and forest conservation.Making special reference to the rights of forest-dwelling communities, Shivakumar instructed officials to ensure that their rights are protected. “The rights of forest dwellers should not be neglected under any circumstances. They should not be harassed on trivial grounds. As per the rules, they must be provided with basic amenities such as drinking water, roads, electricity and other essential services,” he said.Officials informed the chief minister that ₹6,306 lakh had been disbursed during 2025-26 as compensation for crop loss, livestock deaths, human fatalities, permanent and partial disabilities, injuries and property damage caused by human-wildlife conflict.Calling for greater innovation in wildlife management, Shivakumar observed that animals often find ways to overcome barriers such as trenches and fences and asked officials to continuously adopt newer mitigation strategies. He also reviewed the use of thermal drone systems for monitoring wildlife movement and discussed measures to fill vacant posts in the forest department.
