Can over 81,000 hectares (ha) of forest land be encroached upon within a span of five years ? If one goes by the Government records, it is possible. The statistics on forest encroachment given by Karnataka State Government has baffled environmentalists in the State, with a huge gap of over 81,000 ha between 1997 and 2002. In 1997, the Government had written to Centre for regularising 17,007.23 ha forest land encroached before 1978, by underprivileged people. The Centre had approved regularising 14,848.83 ha. A Government Order (GO) in this regard was duly passed.