By J Shanmugha Sundaram /Published: 09th April 2015
TIRUVANNAMALAI/VELLORE:
Thirty-year-old Raman (name changed), who hailed from a remote village in Jawadhu Hills, was tasked to scout the forest in Seshachalam, which is known for the world’s best red sander trees, to identity, fell and transport A-grade redwood trees out of the forest.
At the end of the day, he earns more than a white-collar professional, but his life always hangs in the balance.
“We know the risk involved in this trade,” said a low-rung woodcutter-turned-agent in Jawadhu Hills.
A wood cutter is paid between Rs 600 and Rs 700 a kg of red sander logs (heartwood). For each kg of log cut, trimmed into transportable size and carried to the transport point by a woodcutter, his agent gets Rs 300, he said.
Since they are from the hills, they have the natural ability to identify the best trees and their stamina to carry logs for 60 to 100 km on foot across difficult terrain makes them the choice of red sander mafias to plunder the natural resource.
The agent hires a group of 10 to 20 youth aged between 18 and 35 years and devises a plan to send them into the forest.
Groups comprising about 50 would be split into smaller groups of 8 to 12 members. They would take long routes (from Polur to Vellore, Vellore to Tirutani and from there to Tirupati or Polur to Vellore - Vellore to Bangalore - Bangalore to Tirupati or Polur to Tiruvannamalai- Tiruvannamalai to Chennai-Chennai to Tirupati or Jawadhu Hills to Chengam-Chengam to Bangaluru - Bangaluru to Tirpati) to reach a meeting point on the outskirts of the forest area. At times, they gather in Tirupati hills as devotees and enter the forest at an appropriate time.
They also take trains from Chennai Central to Tirupati, besides taking their wives and children along to avoid being caught. “If we travel with wife and children, the possibility of being caught is low as police will not suspect us. After reaching Tirupati, we will send our women folk back to the village,” he said.
“We sometimes carry packets of biscuits, rice and dates as we have to camp deep inside the forest for a week or ten days to fell a large number of trees. We cook rice and eat one meal. The remaining cooked rice is mixed with water and kept in containers for the rest of the day,” said a woodcutter.
He stopped going into the forest after a narrow escape from the heavily armed special task force, which was formed with a single purpose to flush out the red sander smugglers from the forest.
“If we are unable to come out due to movement or intensification of combing operations at the exit points, we eat what we get in the forest. But, there are no fruit bearing trees and water. “
“We even starve for two to three days and sneak out of the forest,” he said, and added that they would earn at least Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000 on a single trip.
Recalling the difficult part of their task, the woodcutter said they had to carry the logs across the steep hills on foot. It would take a day or two to reach the closest place that has some kind of road connectivity to smuggle the logs out in vehicles.
After loading the red sander logs, they split into small groups and reach various places with connectivity to Vellore or Chittoor.
After they reach their native place, the agents hand over their wages.
The logs are transported in stolen cars via Vellore, Bengaluru and Chennai.
The mafia engage two to three drivers to transport the logs to the destination.
The first person would be asked to drive the vehicle to a certain point and park it at a particular spot and the second person will drive the vehicle to the next spot.
“Even if the vehicles are confiscated by police, it will be difficult to track down the network and the kingpin remains a mystery,” said the source.
DGP loses his cool over firing charge
Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh DGP JV Ramudu lost his cool, when he was pointedly asked about the allegations that the victims of Seshachalam were shot at a very close range and that there was no evidence of crossfire. The DGP, who apparently is under fire for “fake encounter” burst out at the media persons describing their searching questions as “nonsense.” The DGP stuck to his guns that the police opened fire in self defence. When pointed out that the encounter site did not appear to have had an exchange of fire, the DGP said though the smugglers did not have enough firearms, their stones were enough to kill policemen. When asked why police had to fire at close range, Ramudu shouted at the mediapersons, demanding to know whether they knew more than police.
HIGH COURT SEEKS TOP COP’S REPORT
Hyderabad: A division bench of the High Court on Wednesday sought to know from the Director General of Police of Andhra Pradesh whether a case of unnatural death had been registered with regard to the encounter.The bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice PV Sanjay Kumarwas directed the DGP to submit a report by Friday by explaining whether a case of unnatural death has been registered and also narrating the measures taken in conducting the postmortem and preservation of bodies as per the guidelines and procedure prescribed under the law. The bench also directed the DGP to explain in his report the measures that are being initiated for identification of bodies by their kith and kin. The bench posted the case hearing to Friday.
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