Task force faces shortage of cops to stop tribals from cutting trees

Tirupati: Thousands of Malayali tribal people from Tamil Nadu are actively involved in smuggling red sanders logs from Seshachala forest spread over Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool, Nellore and Prakasam districts.

Highlights:

• Thousands of Malayali tribals from TN are actively involved in red sanders logs smuggling
• Till date, they have smuggled red sanders logs worth hundreds of crores from AP

According to task force sources, tribals, who are largely concentrated in the hilly areas of Tiruvannamalai, Salem and Vellore districts, have plundered red sanders logs worth hundreds of crores through smuggling.

The Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) personnel and civic policemen are unable to prevent them from entering forest. Since childhood, the Malayali tribals are taught to earn their livelihood by cutting trees in reserve forest in Tamil Nadu.
They can enter deep forest and cut down trees and can carry them on their shoulders for several kilometres.

The tribals will be ready to face any threat from police while chopping trees. Two decades ago, when famous sandalwood smuggler Veerappan was alive, the Malayali tribals were hired to cut sandalwood trees in Sathyamangalam forest.

After his death, now they are venturing into Seshachala forest to cut red sanders logs and smuggling them.
The RSASTF estimates anywhere between 1,000 to 2,000 belonging to Malayali tribe are entering the Seshachala forest every day from various entry points located in Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool, Nellore and Prakasam districts.

Another main reason for tribal people taking up smuggling was that they are paid Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 for each kg of red sanders log. On an average, a tribal smuggler earns Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 per week. Recently, more than 100 Malayali tribe smugglers have surrounded a 9-member task force team, who are combing Theendragunta forest, and pelted stones towards them. They ran away when cops opened fire in the air. However, task force personnel escaped without injuries.

It was evident that red sanders smugglers are more in number compared to task force personnel. Speaking to The Hans India, one of the senior officials of the RSASTF has expressed dissatisfaction over the shortage of staff.

The sanctioned strength of task force unit is 450 but only 250 cops are actively working. we need more 1,000 armed policemen to curb red sanders logs smuggling, he stated.

By K Nethaji