In a concerning incident, eight members of the state forest department, including the Range Forest Officer (RFO), reportedly faced an attack by villagers who were opposing a survey conducted by the department to assess encroachments on forest land in Belagavi district. The incident occurred on October 8 in Gokak taluk, where villagers purportedly assaulted the forest department personnel with sticks and hurled stones at them. As a result of the attack, a total of 16 vehicles, including two department vehicles and 14 private vehicles parked in the taluk, were damaged due to stone pelting.
The injured forest staff received immediate medical attention at the government hospital in Gokak and were discharged later on October 8. In response to the incident, two individuals from Yalapatti village, who were allegedly involved in stone pelting, were taken to the police station in Gokak. However, approximately 20 villagers then reportedly took six forest personnel into a nearby forest zone and held them captive, demanding the release of the arrested villagers as a condition for their own release.
Gokak’s Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP), DH Mulla, stated that after releasing the accused individuals as per the villagers’ demands, they were subsequently taken into custody. The decision was made to ensure the arrest of those responsible for the stone pelting incident and those involved in holding the forest personnel captive.
An FIR has been filed against 19 individuals under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including assault on public servants, causing grievous hurt, and attempted murder.
The incident unfolded when a team of approximately 10 forest officials, led by RFO Sanjeev Savasuddi and accompanied by local police, conducted a survey of encroached land in Yalapatti village within the Khanagoan Reserve forest area in Gokak taluk on the evening of October 8. Villagers vehemently opposed the survey, resulting in the unfortunate incident where they pelted stones at the forest department personnel.
Gokak Range Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Shivanand Nayakwadi, clarified that the forest department’s objective was to assess the encroached land, not to demand its return. He explained that over 500 acres of land designated as Reserve Social Forest area had allegedly been occupied by villagers. While the forest department had not previously served them with notices regarding the acquired land, it had initiated the process to evaluate and potentially reclaim the land by conducting the survey.
RFO Savasuddi, who led the survey team, revealed that approximately eight months ago, his team had recovered a portion of the encroached land by fencing it, reclaiming around 350 acres of the total 500-acre illegally occupied area. To expand the forest zone, the department had started planting saplings in the area. However, individuals residing on the outskirts of the hilly terrain reportedly uprooted the planted saplings and obstructed the holes with mud and stones.
