Red sanders' best gene pool getting eroded

Chennai: The periodic felling of red sanders in Eastern Ghats (Andhra Pradesh) and Western Ghats (Tamil Nadu) has eroded the best gene pool of the tree species from south India, admit conservation scientists and sources with Traffic India, a wildlife investigation agency.

“Chinese timber mafia funds the tree poaching industry endemic to South India. The need of the hour is a better intra-state system to counter the international smuggling operations”, said  Shekar Kumar Niraj, head, Traffic India. We are happy over the recent big seizures of red sanders in Chennai, but unless drastic steps are taken at the national level with states as stakeholders, it’s hard to track the illegal timber movement.

It’s a big international network and the timber mafia, both local and international,  has been operating for the past 20 years. Now there has to be a different approach in terms of investigation and inter-departmental co ordination, he said.

Further the policy related to timber cultivation in private areas and forests needs to introspected and changed accordingly so that farmers and private cultivators planted red sanders benefit without affecting the balance of wild red sanders, he added.  

According to Tamil Nadu forest department sources, the state has 13 forest protection squads under Protection and Vigilance wing, functioning as two groups.

Besides five flying squads, 17 forest stations, 112 forest check posts and 11 roving check posts are functioning to prevent tree-falling and smuggling. “Most of the red sanders seized in Chennai belong to Andhra Pradesh and are smuggled into Tamil Nadu as a transit point. There are issues that need to be looked into”, said a Tamil Nadu forester.

“When compared to Eastern Ghats, red sanders in western ghats spread over Palani, Dindigul and Coimbatore are safe. “There are incidents of sandalwood wood being axed down in Dindigul, but red sanders are intact as the locals find it difficult to identify red sanders”, said Arun Shankar of Palani Hills Conservation Council. But going by the rate of red sanders being wiped out from eastern ghats, there is a need for a national level policy and a project to regulate and protect forest produces like sandalwood, teak and red sanders, he said.