Citizens’ plea for Hesaraghatta grasslands: 75k signatures collected

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Around 75k citizens of Bengaluru have signed a petition requesting for the Hesaraghatta Grasslands being recognised as a conservation reserve. The signatures were collected by Vijay Nishant, the principal chief conservator of the forest on Wednesday.

The State Board of Wildlife will conduct a meeting to address the fate of the Hesaraghatta grasslands which is a 5,000 acres stretch, on the outskirts of the city, just over 40 km. According to Vijay Nishant, president of the NGO, Project Vruksha Foundation, who is popularly known as Tree Doctor, due to the announcement by the State Wildlife Board their 15-day campaign to raise the issue was cut short to three days.

“So, we could only collect 75,000 signatures,” he said. Citizens and environmentalists look forward to the meeting with the hope that the wildlife body will make a decision in the best interest of the grasslands. “Due to political intervention and lies spread by politicians, declaration of the grasslands as a conservative reserve has been delayed,” he added.