The City Muncipal council (CMC) meeting held on Tuesday 14th September resolved to preserve and protect the green cover provided by the urban forests in and around Madikeri town limits. The meeting further resolved, unanimously to evict encroachers of the hill side and government lands which were posing a risk to the ecology and also was an eyesore.
The meeting which was held under the Presidentship of CMC President P.D. Ponnappa was attended by Madikeri MLA Appachu Ranjan and MLC M.C. Nanaiah and all councillors.
The MLC felt that land grabbers from within the district and from out side have ganged up to encroach on government lands in Madikeri to construct houses and resorts.
The modus operandi of the encroachers is to squat on revenue land and after a period of time to apply for regularization. The MLA instructed the CMC Commissioner to identify genuine homeless and land less individuals and provide them homes under the ‘Navagrama’ yojane, five km away from the city limits. Social forestry projects should be undertaken in the recovered areas to retain the green cover around the city felt M.C. Nanaiah.