From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, Aug 22: The State Government has constituted a Cabinet Sub-Committee under the chairmanship of Forest Minister B Ramanath Rai to study the problems of poor people and farmers in the deemed forests in Karnataka.

Higher Education Minister R V Deshpande, Revenue Minister V Srinivas Prasad, Social Welfare Minister H Anjaneya and Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education Kimmane Ratnakar are other members of the panel.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Rai said the government would not evict the poor and the farmers settled in the jurisdiction of the deemed forests.

The Forest Department has already identified 10.11 lakh hectares, including Kans, Kumki, Bane, Kharab lands, as deemed forest.

The Opposition BJP members of Malnad region have feared that thousands of poor and famers would lose their lands if the list was implemented.

Rai said all illegal resorts developed on reserve forests would be destroyed, irrespective of whom they were belonged. Under the forest acts, construction of private resorts on reserved forests is illegal, he said.

A Rs 109.37 crore comprehensive project has been formulated to check man-elephant conflict in various corridors covering 15 districts.

It would be implemented in the next five years to deal with the issue of man-elephant conflict in Bangalore Rural, Bangalore Urban, Mandya, Mysore, Kodagu, Chamarajanagar, Chikmagalur, Uttara Kannada, Hassan, Ramanagaram, Tumkur, Shimoga, Dakshina Kannada, Belgaum and Dharwad districts.

According to Rai, the State Government said a sum of Rs 30 crore had been allotted in the State budget for 2013-14.

The government will be taking steps on a war-footing to tackle man-elephant conflict, the minister said.