The chorus to declare Hesaraghatta grasslands as Greater Hesaraghatta Grasslands Conservation Reserve is once again gaining momentum. Green activists and residents of the area, organised under the banner “Save Hesaraghatta Grasslands” will meet at Cubbon Park on October 9, Sunday, to push Karnataka government to declare the grasslands as a conservation reserve.
In 2021, the Forest Department had proposed before the State Board for Wildlife, chaired by the Chief Minister, to declare the grasslands as Greater Hesaraghatta Grasslands Conservation Reserve which was rejected by the Board. It was alleged that an MLA from the ruling party had influenced the decision. However, in July earlier this year, High Court directed the State Board for Wildlife to reconsider the proposal to declare the grasslands as a Conservation Reserve. The Board was supposed to meet on September 5, but that meeting is yet to take place. Green activists and academics have been demanding that the entire area of 5,000 odd acres of Hesaraghatta grasslands, shrublands and wetlands to be declared as Greater Hesaraghatta Grasslands Conservation Reserve.
Vijay Nishanth, president, Project Vruksha Foundation who is spearheading this campaign has already written a letter to CM Basavaraj Bommai appealing him to declare the grassland as a conservation reserve. “With Bengaluru having a population of 1.3 crore and the northern side of the city having no green cover, it is imperative, Hessarghatta becomes a conservation reserve to make this great international city liveable and protect it from flooding, pollution and water scarcity. We hope the right decision is taken in the interest of the people and environment in which they live-for our children to survive,” Nishanth stated in the letter.
Dr. T.V. Ramachandra of the Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc. said that grasslands help in recharging the groundwater and retain the rainwater in the catchment area thereby giving security to the dependent people. He added that grasslands help in the diversity of pollinators and wherever the native species or plants are there, water is available for twelve months. However, wherever people have degraded the catchment area, the water availability is only for four months. “The pollinators are abundant and diverse when the catchment is dominated by native species. Our study shows that in a catchment where the native species are there, we see that yield of the crop is more. For example, the yield of paddy is 14 or 15 quintal per acre in a region where degradation has not happened as against degraded land where the yield is only 6 to 8 quintal per acre,” he added.
Leo Saldhana of the Environment Support Group said that grassland ecosystems apart from supporting wildlife populations also support villages. However, he is against treating grass lands as a sanctuary. “The problem with the Wildlife Act is it will make it out of bounds for the local shepherds and local cattle herders. If there is no grazing then woody vegetation would take over and it will become a deep-rooted forest. You should not protect it totally, you should treat it as a community reserve and not as a sanctuary, A sanctuary will block any human activity, it will become a picnic spot, it won’t survive as an ecosystem because the woody vegetation would take over and the grasses will die,” he said.
