A sapling plantation drive was stopped at the Hessarghatta grasslands on Saturday after environmentalists intervened.
Mahesh Bhat, photographer and environmentalist who is among those working to get the grasslands to be declared a conservation reserve, said advance work of sapling plantation began on Friday evening wherein the grasslands were dug up for the drive.
“On Saturday morning, we brought it to the notice of the Forest Department and officials stopped it. A grassland is an ecosystem by itself and a neglected one at that. There are so many birds and animals who depend on it. Wolves, for example, cannot live in a forest. They need open areas to rest and hunt. There are many birds who build nests and rest on the ground. We think of it as a barren land, which it is not,” he said.
Environmentalists suspect that some Forest Department officials could have started the drive to ensure that funds set aside for it do not lapse before the end of the financial year. “They would have been able to take up planting saplings only in June,” said one of them.
Forest Department officials were unavailable for comment.