A study by the Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) into the dynamics of red sanders smuggling activity in Rayalaseema districts has found that 90% of the woodcutters coming from Tamil Nadu districts are from the Javadi Hills spread between Vellore and Tiruvannamalai districts.
The study further observed that of the 31 woodcutters killed in various encounters in Seshachalam hills of Chittoor and Kadapa districts since 2012, as many as 29 of them were from Javadi Hills, and two being unidentified. All the 20 woodcutters gunned down at the foot of Tirumala hills on April 7, 2015 were from the same region.
The Task Force personnel who undertook a six-month long study had visited the districts of Vellore and Tiruvannamalai half-a-dozen times, interacting with the locals and family members of the deceased woodcutters. During the last six months, the number of youth joining the labour force of woodcutters is being on the rise steadily. According to the study, the number of youth from the Javadi Hills dominated among those arrested by the RSASTF, police and forest teams between April 2015 and October 2016. During this one and half years, as many as 4,183 woodcutters were arrested in Chittoor and Kadapa districts.
The officials said that in recent months, a number of youth are getting lured by the red sanders smuggling.
Task Force DSP says If the people of uplands of Javadi Hills are rehabilitated and trained in various vocational skills, the perennial problem of red sanders smuggling can be tackled to the optimal level
