nagpur ambazari has been notified as reserved forest and has full degree of protection under the indian forest act 1927 however it is a free for all herea visit to the forest area on monday revealed that all the prohibited activities such as trespassing littering fishing drinking grazing grass extraction etc are rampant right under the nose of the forest departmentit has come to fore that people have easy access inside the forest from pandhrabodi gate though the forest gate has been locked trespassers take advantage of shattered forest checkpost to enter deep into the forestcattleowners from pandhrabodi slums enter 45km deep inside the forest to cut grass for fodder samrat yadav 17 a student and his family were seen 4km inside the forest cutting grass in compartment number 798my family owns 1520 buffaloes as fodder from market is costly i come here regularly to cut grass yadav said the buffaloes were being fed outside the forest gate with same grass brought from the forestheaps of grass were being moved out on a bike right in front of permanent van majoor govind gaikwad who was supervising weeding works nearby this is a regular feature he saidat a time when maharashtra is losing critically endangered birds like great indian bustards gibs due to shrinking grasslands the forest department is itself allowing grasslands to vanish at ambazari recently vast stretches of grassland were converted into plantation areas this has led to habitat destruction said krishna lanjewar a regular bird watcher at ambazariat 1pm toi also found a group of 15 students from neighbouring dharampeth science college celebrating a birthday party in compartment number 799 by serving drinks it seemed to be a hotspot for revellers as many empty liquor bottles were scattered therewhen countered the students started fleeing and refused to show their id cards however their uniforms displayed dharampeth college logo on it later the students admitted that they were in the forest for a birthday partyat ambazari backwaters close by a family was engaged in washing blankets and clothes polluting the lake water we are not regulars here and came today only as there was a death in our family and also because the nmc taps went dry said indubai durge devilal walthare of sanjay nagar pandhrabodieyewitnesses said this forest stretch has become a den for antisocials who come from nearby slums and indulge in gambling cooking food and partying with liquor this was also evident from the makeshift chulhas and many empty liquor bottles strewn in the forest areaover a kilometre stretch of forest from the pandhrabodi gate has been dirtied with garbage plastic water bottles empty beer cans pouches and wrappersduring rains all the garbage flows into the water body polluting it spurt in fishing from this side over the years has led to loss of bird habitat lake pollution is also killing fish said aniruddha bhagat an avid bird watchera painter by profession bablu gedam of sudamnagri admits he is into regular fishing in compartment number