'Toxic': 'Forest trees axed in Bengaluru for shooting of KGF star Yash's upcoming movie'

BENGALURU: The simmering dispute over the 599-acre forest land in Peenya-Jalahalli area, currently under the possession of PSU Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT), has taken a 'cinematic' turn.
Alleging that 'hundreds of trees' on the forest land were axed to facilitate the shooting of Sandalwood's Rocking Star Yash's movie 'Toxic', forest minister Eshwar Khandre Tuesday directed top officials of his department to initiate strict legal action against who permitted the axing of trees and to book forest offence cases against persons who cleared the trees.
The minister said he discovered largescale destruction of trees and vegetation on the forest land for setting up a set for the movie when he visited the land a few days ago, in the backdrop of the ongoing row between HMT and the forest department.
Khandre was briefed by officials that part of the forest land has been 'rented out' to set up a set for the shooting by clearing trees and vegetation. In his letter to the forest, environment and ecology additional chief secretary on Tuesday, the minister pointed out that the 599-acre area has already been declared as 'reserved forest' by way of a gazette notification, and the same land was allocated to the HMT without denotifying the forest land.
"HMT has already sold the forest land in its possession illegally to various govt and private agencies facilitating non-forest activities. It is evident from the satellite images that there is large-scale destruction of trees and vegetation on the forest land. I also noticed that the HMT is renting out the forest land for film shooting and the vacant land on a daily rental basis. An art set has also been set up on the forest land allegedly sold to Canara Bank to facilitate the shooting of the movie for several months. Hundreds of trees and vegetation on the forest land have been illegally cleared," Khandre wrote.
Recalling the Supreme Court's previous verdict that 'once a forest is always a forest unless de-notified', the minister maintained that the land occupied by HMT continues to be forest land.
"As per the Forest Act and rules, axing of trees in forest land without prior permission is a punishable offence. I direct you to verify the number of trees axed for setting up the movie set by comparing previous and present-day satellite images sourced from Karnataka State Remote Sensing Applications Centre (KSRSAC) and find out whether the agencies responsible for renting out the land or shooting of the film obtained any permission to axe the trees," Khandre directed the ACS in his letter.
The minister also instructed that if any forest official has permitted the axing of trees on the forest land, disciplinary action should be initiated against him or her for permitting the axing of trees on forest land and forest offence cases must be registered against all those responsible for it.
The minister's move to reclaim 599 acres of forest land named as Peenya Plantation in the forest department's record led to stiff opposition from the Union minister for heavy industries and steel, HD Kumaraswamy, who defended HMT as the rightful owner of the land.
Last week, the Bengaluru Urban forest officials had reclaimed five acres of land from the HMT's possession.