Karnataka defends 430-acre HMT forest land recovery amid Kumaraswamy attack

Karnataka Rural Development Minister Eshwar Khandre on Tuesday defended the state government’s move to reclaim 430 acres of forest land worth Rs 15,000 crore in Bengaluru from Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT).

Rejecting Union Heavy Industries Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s claim, Khandre said the June 15 order of the forest department was not an attempt to block revival of the Central public sector undertaking but to prevent the company from usurping forest land.

Khandre, who had served as the forest minister in the previous Siddaramaiah government, alleged that HMT had previously sold forest land to real estate companies. The 430 acres of land was granted to HMT in the 1960s.

“It is HMT and not the forest department that has encroached on forest land that had not been converted (into industrial land). Is it possible to conduct real estate business on forest land declared under Section 64A of the Karnataka Forest Act, 1963?” Khandre asked.

Khandre explained that as per the Supreme Court ruling, any forest land that is not converted after the implementation of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, will remain forest land; as a consequence, unused land granted to HMT in the 1960s would remain forest land.

“Even now, 280 acres of the land in HMT’s possession is forest plantation. Film and serial shooting takes place in the dilapidated buildings next door. HMT is illegally using forest land for commercial purposes. It has sold 165 acres of land for just Rs 300 crore,” Khandre said.

“The forest land in the possession of HMT is the property of seven crore Kannadigas. This is an essential breathing space for the people of Bengaluru,” he said, indicating that the forest department plans to build a huge biological park over an area of 440 acres.

Kumaraswamy’s allegations

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On Monday, Kumaraswamy said the Bengaluru Urban Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) N Ravindra Kumar had ordered HMT to surrender 430 acres of land in north Bengaluru, which is designated as forest land and was given to HMT for industrial purposes.

“The matter is pending before the court. At such a sensitive stage, the State Government, through the Forest Department, has issued a notice and imposed a deadline. This amounts to interference with judicial proceedings,” Kumaraswamy said.

The union minister claimed that the order to recover the land had come at a time when the heavy industries ministry was trying to obtain a special revival package for HMT from the Centre to make up for sustained losses incurred by the firm for many years.

“I have been making efforts to convince the Prime Minister and the Union Finance Minister to approve a special package for HMT that comes under the Ministry of Heavy Industries. Just when the package was close to being announced, the State Government, with malicious intent, got such a notice issued,” Kumaraswamy alleged on Monday.

‘Real estate mafia looted HMT’s land’

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Kumaraswamy, who heads the Janata Dal Secular party — a BJP ally at the Centre — alleged that the real estate mafia looted HMT’s land between 1999 and 2004 and he took the initiative to stop it when he became the CM for the first time in 2006.

“Under the government of those who promised to turn Bengaluru into Singapore, HMT land was torn apart and devoured like vultures, without the slightest restraint,” said the JDS leader, a big critic of Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.

He highlighted that HMT — once among India’s most prestigious and profitable industrial enterprises — continues to manufacture machinery for critical sectors, including space, defence and research, despite its difficult circumstances.

The HMT land recovery controversy

The land recovery controversy revolves around nearly 599 acres of land in a plantation in the Peenya Jalahalli region of north Bengaluru, which was declared forest land in 1896 and was later transferred to HMT in the 1960s to create industrial infrastructure through a donation deed by the Bengaluru District Collector.

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Last year, the Congress Government issued an order to suspend a senior Indian Forest Service officer for allegedly facilitating the handover of forest land worth nearly Rs 15,000 crore held by HMT to third parties, including private entities.

In recent years, large portions of the land given to HMT by the forest department for industrial purposes have been used to facilitate major real estate projects through the connivance of state and central government officials.

“This plantation is owned by HMT. It is illegal for the organization to sell to government departments/organizations and private individuals. However, the fact that forest officials did not make any attempt to recover the land and, without even drawing the attention of the Cabinet, submitted an Interim Application (IA) to the Supreme Court seeking denotification in 2020 is a cause for doubt,” the then forest minister, Khandre, said last year.

In January 2025, the state government ordered that the forest department must take possession of 281 acres of the 599 acres of land donated to HMT that is lying vacant.