A novel initiative by taskforce

Tirupati: In a unique move, the Red Sanders Anti-smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) has come out with an educative short film to dissuade youth from being lured into red sanders smuggling. The 45-minute film depicts the character of a youth called Mani and his travails after he becomes part of a red sanders smuggling outfit. In short, the film acts as a pointer to the negative consequences resulting to those youth involved in the illegal activity and their families. Interestingly, most of the actors in the film are RSASTF personnel.

While the screenplay and direction is by Deekshith, story and dialogues have been provided by Sudhakar who also did the cameo of a smuggler in the film. RSASTF chief Magunta Kantha Rao, the brain behind the initiative was the chief guest at a special screening of the film to the media on Wednesday.

The main purpose of the film is to throw light on the root cause of the smuggling - the tribals of the Javadi hills area,” said Kantha Rao and informed that 98 percent of the red sanders operatives at the grassroots level were the tribals from Javadi hills straddling Tiruvannamalai and Vellore districts of Tamil Nadu.

They (tribals) are fearless, sturdy and go to any extent against anyone who comes in their way,” he said. The film will be exhibited in the districts of Seshachalam hills i.e. Chittoor, Kadapa and Nellore districts and will also be dubbed into Tamil and screened in the areas where red sanders smuggling is rife. Task Force DSP Sridhar Rao said that despite their best efforts for coordination with Tamil Nadu officials, the response from the latter was rather lukewarm which was proving to be a stumbling block in reforming woodcutters involved in red sanders smuggling.