Red sanders busts only a tip of iceberg

Vijayawada: Seizure of red sanders logs on May 30 by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials in Gujarat in large quantities from an Inland Container Depot in Sabarmati is just a symptom of the malice that has set in too deep in every system.

Serious research work has gone into the red sanders smuggling by various agencies and all of it goes to prove that the smuggling of red sanders from the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh is rampant and the seizures are just a pittance. Red sanders from the Seshachalam forest area of the erstwhile, Kurnool, Chittoor and Kadapa districts regularly reach far off lands and the main destination is China.

The continuous smuggling only suggests that smuggling of red sanders is always done under political control and the resolve of the governments to prevent it does not always match the grit of the smugglers to break the law in maintaining the supplies overseas.

Red sanders has always been subjected to a bunch of laws in the sandalwood business from the colonial times. In 1998, a ban was imposed on the red sanders trade. It came under the garb of curbing deforestation but helped in giving a boost to the illegal trade.

Rayalaseema politicians-cum-businessmen believe that red sandalwood is a source of easy money. Sheshachalam, Veligonda, Lankamala and Palakonda hill ranges in Chittoor, Kadapa and Kurnool (erstwhile) region of Rayalaseema have become the new El Dorado, Dr David Pichereti said in his book 'Red Sanders Mafia' in South India: Violence, Electoral Democracy and Labour'. It is not that the government is not aware of the smuggling and the ways and means adopted by smugglers. Yet, despite all the reports of the special investigation teams and the information from the law and order agencies, the state governments have failed to curb the trade. After all, the lucre of easy money is such that it blurs one's sight while reading the law.

There have been efforts to regularize the trade in red sanders, a sensible move by any yardstick as it helps in regulating deforestation too, but it has not materialised.

David Picherete who has done remarkable research into the smuggling of red sanders had been specific about the 'competition' between the dominant political classes of the Rayalaseema region and how, together, they had competed in outsmarting the others in benefiting from the trade. Political factionalism too has helped the process. The scale of operations in Andhra Pradesh of red sanders smuggling is reportedly cleverly done by the 'wood lords' who, unlike the notorious Veerappan (eliminated later), get cosy with the officials at every turn. Every government department involved in preventing smuggling is said to be 'lined up' aka 'Pushpa' style.

Research work done by David also proves that whenever there is a change in the government, the 'forest system' quickly befriends the new political bosses.

Trade experts have always known that red sanders smugglers have political blessings and administrative connivance at all levels. But they always wondered why the trade should be opened up for export. It is a valuable wood that has a huge demand overseas, particularly in China, Japan and East Asia, where it is said to be used in cosmetics, Ziltan furniture, musical instruments, medicines and in cooling reactors.

It is known that each tonne of the red sanders commands a price of Rs 25 lakh in the international market. The Chinese market even has seen Rs 1 crore and more for the same several times depending on the demand from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou warehouses. The DRI officials who have been monitoring the movement of red sanders from Andhra Pradesh are sure that smuggling of the much-valued sanders would not be easier without political clout.