Why Karnataka Forest Dept & Centre are locked in battle over land ‘given’ to watchmaker HMT

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Bengaluru:The Karnataka government is locked in a conflict with the Centre over the ownership of acres of prime land valued at thousands of crores currently held by watchmaker Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT), a public sector company...

H.D. Kumaraswamy, the Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel, has said the 599 acres of land on the outskirts of Bengaluru claimed by the Karnataka Forest Department belongs to HMT, which had all the documents to support its claim..

Meanwhile, Eshwar Khandre, Karnatakas minister of forests, wants to reclaim the land.. ThePrint explains what the tussle is all about...

Eshwar Khandre, Karnatakas minister of forests, issued an order on 11 August to recover nearly half the 599 acres of land, triggering a standoff between Kumaraswamy and Khandre...

Khandre said he wants to see HMT being revived but is firm that the land belongs to the Karnataka Forest Department and the aim of retrieving the vacant land is to prevent it from being lost to private developers...