“The IAF has to give alternate land. We have shown some land that belongs to the IAF in Belagavi and if the IAF and forest department agrees to this, we will get it transferred,” a senior government official said.
The Karnataka government has carried out a joint survey with the IAF to ascertain the exact extent of the encroachment. However, it is unlikely that the airforce will part with the land since it is currently under active use and returning it would add to security complications.
Of the nearly 2,000 acres that Yelahanka Air Force Station occupies, its runway, which measures around 160 acres, is being contested by the forest department.
“According to documents, two parcels of land, each measuring 132.03 acres and 27 acres are currently being utilised by the IAF. Together, it adds up to about 159.29 acres. We have held discussions with the IAF to return this property,” said an official from the forest department.
The Karnataka government is actively pursuing the recovery of all forest lands currently encroached upon by both individuals and organisations.
Data accessed by ThePrint shows that 2,04,229.762 acres of forest land have been encroached. Of this, 864.20 acres have been encroached in Bengaluru Rural and 2,043.44 acres in Bengaluru Urban.
The government has not specified the extent of encroachment by the IAF and other defence establishments, if any.
Karnataka Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre has been on a mission to recover several of these encroachments, some of them including colonial-era lease agreements under which some companies or organisations occupy hundreds of acres of land and pay a pittance to retain them.
Leases include plantation and timber companies in places like Kodagu, about 225 km from Bengaluru, documents show. Some of them, officials said, are paying about Rs 1,500 per acre a year.
Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium is also a fiercely contested matter since the Ministry of Defence claims that the land on which the landmark sits belongs to it.
Several civil society groups have urged the ministry to recover the land since the Karnataka cricket association was using it for commercial activities, including hosting the Indian Premier League (IPL). The issue was triggered when the Siddaramaiah Cabinet decided to move the cricket stadium outside the city.
Similarly, there have been several instances where the Karnataka government or the Bengaluru city corporation have allegedly encroached upon defence land for road widening or other development works. In the past, there have been disputes between the two as well as deals where defence has ceded land it owns in the heart of the city for bigger parcels outside Bengaluru.
The IAF did not respond to requests for comment.
The Yelahanka Air Force Station is the premier training school under the IAF and hosts the biennial air show, Aero India. With a history of nearly eight decades, the base is used as a Mi7, Mi-17 helicopter, AN-32 and Dornier Do-228 aircraft training school. It is also where the yesteryear’s iconic aircraft, Dakota, was inducted.
It was also one of the locations where prisoners of war (POWs) were housed after the Second World War. These POWs, numbering around 20,000, were tasked with constructing the airfields in Yelahanka, Jakkur and other places.
Post the 1962 India-China war, the Yelahanka Air Force Station was officially raised on 1 August, 1963. It is one of three active airports within Bengaluru, although it does not operate commercial flights.
(Edited by Tony Rai)