Karnataka HC sends back issue of declaring Hesaraghatta Grassland as reserve to state wildlife board

The High Court had last year directed the state government to ensure that the present status of Hesaraghatta Grasslands should not be altered in any manner.

Nishanth said, “It is a victory since the issue is reverted back to the wildlife board. I am hopeful that this time the government would look into the long pending demand of environmentalists and citizens that this area should be declared as a conservation reserve and protected. We need to protect the ecology and Hesaraghatta grasslands are an important part of it.”

Siddharth Goenka, a member of the state wildlife board, said, “The high court’s decision to send the proposal back to the wildlife board for reconsideration was taken by nullifying a wrongly-made decision under duress from a non-board member. My appeal to the chief minister and the forest minister is to bring back the issue to the board as soon as possible and have a proper debate on this.”

In January 2021, former chief minister B S Yediyurappa had rejected the proposal to declare the area as a conservation reserve after Yelahanka MLA S R Vishwanath opposed the idea. The wildlife board members anonymously stated that though Vishwanath was not a member of the wildlife board, he barged into the meeting and told Yediyurappa that the Hesaraghatta grasslands should not be declared as a reserve as it would impact the farmers. The former CM, who was heading the board, did not solicit opinions from the members of the board and rejected the proposal of declaring it as a conservation reserve.

Former CM Siddaramaiah during his tenure (2013-2018) had proposed to set up a film city in Mysuru and later the coalition government of Congress-JD(S) decided to move the film city to Ramanagara. The proposal was met with stiff opposition from ecologists who lamented that grasslands have become breeding grounds for rare birds like the Greater Spotted Eagle, Lesser Florican (only a few hundreds left) and a home to the Slender Loris, Smooth Coated Otter and others.

In his Budget speech on March 8, 2021, Yediyurappa had said that a ‘Theme Park’ will be established on the 100-acre land in Hesaraghatta with private partnership to provide information and training with permanent exhibition and demonstration of native livestock, breeds of sheep and goats and poultry.

In January this year, on the request put up by Goenka, state forest minister Umesh Katti agreed to submit a proposal at the next wildlife board meeting to declare more than 5,000 acre of Hesaraghatta open land as a conservation reserve. However, this did not fructify into action.