<p>The blood curdling happenings in Chittoor forests of Andhra Pradesh in the encounter between red sander wood cutters and the state special task force that left 20 smugglers dead on April 7 has made even the hardcore officialdom to sit up and take notice.<br /></p>.<p>Understandably, the unprecedented numbers of those killed in a single forest-related operation has not only sent shock waves throughout the country but also evoked universally a sense of utter disbelief over the scale of stakes involved and those at the helm are finding it difficult to comprehend the reality. But equally, many saw it coming as the problem of red sander wood smuggling has, for the past two decades, assumed gigantic proportions involving thousands of crores of rupees of illegitimate and easy money.<br /><br />All it needed was for the kingpins to hire poor tribals and youth with good temptation to cut the trees from the vast and unprotected open treasured forests of the region and deliver it to the nearest road head where fast moving vehicles would just zoom away with the loot which would ultimately find way across the borders. The going rate for wood cutters is now in the region of Rs 800 to Rs 1000 per kg with each of them assured of a minimum of Rs 20,000 per load.<br /><br />It is a known fact that majority of able bodied population of hundreds of remote villages and inaccessible tribal belt in the above region have fallen prey to the lure despite knowing well the risk involved. The same methods were adopted in the smuggling of equally valuable and famed sandalwood of south India and agar wood of the north east. In the ongoing bloody conflict, many poorly equipped foresters too were outnumbered and killed brutally in the not too distant past. True to its meaning, red sanders has become blood wood (rakta chandana) as being referred to by locals.<br /><br /> Without going into the circumstances and controversies of the above chilling episode, let us examine as to how and why the situation has come to this grave stage. Red sanders, declared as endangered species and included in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) since year 2000 due to fast depletion of its stock from forests, is found in the wild in a very small and localised geographical area of Chittoor, Tirupati, Kadapa and Kurnool in AP. The highly prized wood is very hard and heavy and is valued for its furniture and musical instrument quality.<br /><br />The demand has seen unprecedented spurt in the last few decades due to various qualities ascribed to it including medicinal values. Some of the neighbouring Far Eastern countries are willing to pay any price as reflected in the recent open auction conducted by the AP government which sold about 4,000 tonnes of the wood fetching around Rs 1,000 crore and still has a stock of around 10,000 tonnes, all seized from illicit cutters and smugglers. With the generally accepted thumb rule of only around 1 per cent being seized, one can imagine how much has already been smuggled.<br /><br />Local mafia<br />These figures also indicate the size of grey market that exists for the wood in the above countries. Not surprisingly, the scale of operations in the illicit removal have encompassed a whole population of border villages which, in the absence of any worthwhile means of living, become the easy target. It is, therefore, imperative that the local mafia is brought to book.<br /><br />Further, there is equally an urgent need to bring in uniform pan-India legislation for protection of such precious wood as red sanders and sandalwood. Though the Union government has banned export of red sanders and sandalwood except by government agencies, presently, only the directly affected states have enacted their laws to check the smuggling of these. Thanks to this anomalous situation, all it needs for the culprits is to move the contraband to the neighbouring states and then there is no stopping, not withstanding few accidental seizures affected in non growing regions.<br /><br />Hence, there has to be greater co-ordination and co-operation amongst the border states. These subjects and concerns have been raised by the foresters and the police time and again at various forums and dozens of committees. But the uniform laws still elude the enforcement authorities as each state attempts to protect its own interest. The grim situation in Seshachalam forests would certainly have been avoided had timely steps been taken on the above issues.<br /><br /> The government would also need to establish special intelligence units and collaborate with international agencies like Interpole to crack down on the groups operating for a long time in the country to systematically strip off its bio-diversity. Other enforcement agencies like the customs, DRI, DGFT etc, should be sensitised and made part of the operation along with the Wild Life Crime Bureau in order to cut the umbilical cord of bio pirates who have been operating in the country with impunity thanks to laxity on part of the authorities. <br /><br />Another long felt need has been to strengthen the infrastructure support <br />system of forest departments including providing training and modern equipment to the forestry and police personnel to enable them to nip the rising crimes in the sector before they assume such frightening proportions. Establishing fast track courts for forest and wild life-related crimes <br /><br />due to sheer numbers and magnitude of the unresolved cases is also to be taken up on top priority.<br />(The writer is former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Karnataka)</p>
<p>The blood curdling happenings in Chittoor forests of Andhra Pradesh in the encounter between red sander wood cutters and the state special task force that left 20 smugglers dead on April 7 has made even the hardcore officialdom to sit up and take notice.<br /></p>.<p>Understandably, the unprecedented numbers of those killed in a single forest-related operation has not only sent shock waves throughout the country but also evoked universally a sense of utter disbelief over the scale of stakes involved and those at the helm are finding it difficult to comprehend the reality. But equally, many saw it coming as the problem of red sander wood smuggling has, for the past two decades, assumed gigantic proportions involving thousands of crores of rupees of illegitimate and easy money.<br /><br />All it needed was for the kingpins to hire poor tribals and youth with good temptation to cut the trees from the vast and unprotected open treasured forests of the region and deliver it to the nearest road head where fast moving vehicles would just zoom away with the loot which would ultimately find way across the borders. The going rate for wood cutters is now in the region of Rs 800 to Rs 1000 per kg with each of them assured of a minimum of Rs 20,000 per load.<br /><br />It is a known fact that majority of able bodied population of hundreds of remote villages and inaccessible tribal belt in the above region have fallen prey to the lure despite knowing well the risk involved. The same methods were adopted in the smuggling of equally valuable and famed sandalwood of south India and agar wood of the north east. In the ongoing bloody conflict, many poorly equipped foresters too were outnumbered and killed brutally in the not too distant past. True to its meaning, red sanders has become blood wood (rakta chandana) as being referred to by locals.<br /><br /> Without going into the circumstances and controversies of the above chilling episode, let us examine as to how and why the situation has come to this grave stage. Red sanders, declared as endangered species and included in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) since year 2000 due to fast depletion of its stock from forests, is found in the wild in a very small and localised geographical area of Chittoor, Tirupati, Kadapa and Kurnool in AP. The highly prized wood is very hard and heavy and is valued for its furniture and musical instrument quality.<br /><br />The demand has seen unprecedented spurt in the last few decades due to various qualities ascribed to it including medicinal values. Some of the neighbouring Far Eastern countries are willing to pay any price as reflected in the recent open auction conducted by the AP government which sold about 4,000 tonnes of the wood fetching around Rs 1,000 crore and still has a stock of around 10,000 tonnes, all seized from illicit cutters and smugglers. With the generally accepted thumb rule of only around 1 per cent being seized, one can imagine how much has already been smuggled.<br /><br />Local mafia<br />These figures also indicate the size of grey market that exists for the wood in the above countries. Not surprisingly, the scale of operations in the illicit removal have encompassed a whole population of border villages which, in the absence of any worthwhile means of living, become the easy target. It is, therefore, imperative that the local mafia is brought to book.<br /><br />Further, there is equally an urgent need to bring in uniform pan-India legislation for protection of such precious wood as red sanders and sandalwood. Though the Union government has banned export of red sanders and sandalwood except by government agencies, presently, only the directly affected states have enacted their laws to check the smuggling of these. Thanks to this anomalous situation, all it needs for the culprits is to move the contraband to the neighbouring states and then there is no stopping, not withstanding few accidental seizures affected in non growing regions.<br /><br />Hence, there has to be greater co-ordination and co-operation amongst the border states. These subjects and concerns have been raised by the foresters and the police time and again at various forums and dozens of committees. But the uniform laws still elude the enforcement authorities as each state attempts to protect its own interest. The grim situation in Seshachalam forests would certainly have been avoided had timely steps been taken on the above issues.<br /><br /> The government would also need to establish special intelligence units and collaborate with international agencies like Interpole to crack down on the groups operating for a long time in the country to systematically strip off its bio-diversity. Other enforcement agencies like the customs, DRI, DGFT etc, should be sensitised and made part of the operation along with the Wild Life Crime Bureau in order to cut the umbilical cord of bio pirates who have been operating in the country with impunity thanks to laxity on part of the authorities. <br /><br />Another long felt need has been to strengthen the infrastructure support <br />system of forest departments including providing training and modern equipment to the forestry and police personnel to enable them to nip the rising crimes in the sector before they assume such frightening proportions. Establishing fast track courts for forest and wild life-related crimes <br /><br />due to sheer numbers and magnitude of the unresolved cases is also to be taken up on top priority.<br />(The writer is former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Karnataka)</p>
