Red Wood Fellers Fall for Easy Money Bait

Vellore/Tiruvannamalai

 11th August 2014 

Ignoring grave threat to their lives, hundreds of tribal youth from Jawadhu Hills in Tiruvannamalai continue to sneak into red sanders-rich Seshachalam Reserve Forest (RF) in Andhra Pradesh for cutting the precious logs.

Sources said that in the last 69 days, a total of eight persons, all aged between 25 and 40, have been gunned down in the Seshachalam RF in five encounters with the Special Task Force (STF).

The series of encounters began on May 29 this year. The STF opened fire on a group of woodcutters in the thick forest, killing Venkatesan (27), Vijayakanth (25) and Siva (28) of Athimur on the spot. The most recent encounter was on August 6 in which armed personnel gunned down A Mani (30) of Chinnamanchur and V Ramasamy (37) of Melnadanur at Gadela. On August 2 and July 30, two persons were shot dead at Kalyani Dam and Balapalli forest. In the third week of June, an STF team opened fire on a group of 50 woodcutters. In the melee, S Veeramani (40) of Vinayagapuram was killed.

The personnel are  forced to open fire in self-defence when the smugglers refuse to surrender and attack them, said a police officer attached to the STF. He added that there were still over 500 woodcutters camping deep inside the forest.

A team led by the Chittoor DSP along with the Tiruvannamalai district police on July 7 held a meeting with elders and youth in a tribal village in Jamunamarathur. “The meeting was aimed at sensitising the tribals on the legal issues and risks involved in red sander smuggling. But it was in vain,” said a police officer.

So, why are the tribals falling for it? Blame it on the “quick and easy” money. Several youth from Tiruttani in Tiruvallur district, Salem and Kallakurichi in Villupuram district have also been roped in for red wood smuggling. They are engaged in cutting trees, trimming them into small pieces and loading them in vehicles for transport to Chennai. “The logs are smuggled to Southeast Asian countries from Chennai,” said a police officer with the STF.

“They are paid anything between `500 and `800 per kg of red sanders for chopping, trimming and loading. They have to carry the logs for nearly 20 km to the loading point,” said a police officer. After working for two weeks, the youth return with anything around `50,000. The huge amount has also attracted those as young as 17.

“The agents promise `5 lakh as compensation to the family if the person does not return within 21 days. The family members are aware about the risks, but never stop their sons and fathers,” said a police officer in Polur.