BENGALURU: Members of the Karnataka State Wildlife Board have penned a letter to CM Basavaraj Bommai, demanding that the Hessarghatta grassland be declared a conservation reserve.
A signed petition was sent to the CM on November 7, explaining the importance of a grassland to Bengaluru. In the six-page letter, the members have explained that it will not exclude people from the landscape. In the letter, they reiterated that the entire 5,100 acres of land will belong to the state government. It houses government institutions on 3,500 acres, while the rest is a lake bed. The members asserted that what is being proposed to be a conservation reserve, specifies that the use of land by local communities and villagers will continue.
The members explained to the CM, who is also the chairman of the state board for wildlife, that no new species will be introduced and the idea of declaring the region as a reserve is to protect existing ones. They also stated that there is no mandate to declare a buffer or eco-sensitive zone around the area, unlike a national park. Hence, the existing and new structures planned will not have any problem.
The members have issued the letter just a few days after the CM called for a public discussion, since a proposal from the Animal Husbandry and Forest departments, alone was not sufficient.