Middlemen lure tribals

Tirupati: Despite the government measures, red sanders smuggling from Chittoor district remaining far from removed, which was evident with the arrest of smugglers and seizure of red sanders time and again.

The smuggling of red sanders, which began two decades ago due to the demand for the wood in the international market, was at its peak from 2005 to 2014 before it started declining, thanks to the government tough measures while the setting up of Red sanders Anti-smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) saw further decline of the red sanders smuggling.

There is no second opinion that the RSASTF, along with the forest and police department, saw 80 per cent of reduction in red sanders smuggling in Chittoor district, though remaining still, mainly due to the wood cutters.

The woodcutters are crucial in the smuggling of red sanders as it was they, who venture into the deep forest, fell the trees, dress them (removing the bark) and carry them to the plain areas to secret places on the forest fringes where the logs hidden before they were being smuggled to outside the district.

As the flow of woodcutters still continuing despite the arrest of most of the inter-state smugglers, kingpins and their agents, the RSASTF has decided to look into the root cause of the menace.
Against this backdrop, RSASTF conducted a study of the arrested smugglers, including their socio -economic condition, which was followed by a survey in the areas from where the smugglers hailed, which was for the first time.

RSASTF (Red sanders Anti-smuggling Task Force) chief M Kantha Rao, along with a team of officials, several times visited the villages in Tiruvannamalai, Vellore and Javadimalai areas from where most of the arrested Tamil smugglers hail.

Kantha Rao said 80 per cent of the arrested smugglers were found to be tribals from the Javadimalai area which is spread over Tiruvannamalai and Vellore districts in Tamil Nadu. In the survey it was found that poverty coupled with poor literacy and lack of livelihood made them fall prey to the middlemen who recruit them for felling the trees deriving them the name Tamil woodcutters.

While there is a hereditary practice of felling trees in forest of Javadimalai for livelihood made them to turn to Chittoor forests after the lush green forests with abundant sandalwood trees denuded due to the unchecked plundering.

Task Force chief said that the tribals have no employment, or other options like agriculture, dairy or fishery. The literacy rate was about 45 per cent in the hill area, while it was much low among tribals, while milk production in Javadi hills area was only about 200 litres and the revenue from fishery is also negligible, he explained.

We held discussions with the district officials, including police impressing them on the imminent need of initiating special schemes exclusively for Javadi hill area tribal to wean them away from the illegal smuggling activity.

We are continuing our efforts to ensure the officials in the districts across the border to focus on the welfare of these underprivileged people and also cooperate with us to stop them from taking up smuggling,” he pointed out.

APCLC (Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee) State vice- president Kranthi Chaitanya also echoed the same view of providing a sustainable livelihood to the downtrodden communities ST, SC and BCs as a first step towards curtailing red sanders smuggling.

Secondly, he said the RSASTF should turn its eyes at grassroots level on the middlemen who play a vital role in smuggling. RSASTF to some extent succeeded in nabbing inter-state smugglers, kingpins and local supporting them and also more than 4,000 woodcutters, but the middlemen remaining elusive.

Middlemen are the ones, who lure the poor STs into the smuggling, and acting as the link between the smugglers at the top and the woodcutter in the grassroots level. Breaking the link is a must to end the menace, he said.