Green fades to grim in Telangana

In September this year, the University of Hyderabad, one of India’s eight ‘Institutions of Eminence’, allowed the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority to plant saplings on its 1,800-acre campus. The university aims to expand green cover, without considering the difference between ‘open space’ or ‘wasteland’ and a functioning grassland ecosystem. It was a few voices versus the adamant administration — the latter prevailed, leading to the loss of a rich biosphere, writes B. Pradeep