Inspector General of Police (Rayalaseema) V.V. Gopalakrishna has said combing operations in Seshachalam hills will continue to protect the wealth of red sanders from smugglers.
The senior police official was responding to a volley of questions from the media at District Police Office (DPO) here on Thursday after launching a fleet of ‘Multipurpose Mobile Vehicles’ covering 36 police stations in Chittoor district.
Mr. Gopalakrishna said in the event of any violent attack on the combing parties by workers employed by the smugglers to fell red sanders trees in the forests, “the Task Force will react according to the situation, whether to open fire or not, to defend their lives.”
The official said from May 2014 till the first week of April 2015, as many as 1,000 red sanders-related cases were booked in the Rayalaseema districts, 5,349 accused were arrested, 721 vehicles and 16,635 logs were seized and Preventive Detention Act (PD Act) was clamped on 45 accused, including 35 in Chittoor district alone.
The IG said after bifurcation, the Police Department in AP suffered severe shortage of over 1,000 vehicles. “Responding to the situation, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and DGP J.V. Ramudu took special initiatives to overcome the shortage, and we have achieved healthy result in a short span," he said. “Based on the Centre’s policies, we need to modernise our police force. Overcoming shortage of vehicles and other important paraphernalia, and adequate funds is must for effective handling of crime rate, traffic system and civil policing," Mr Gopalakrishna said. SP G. Srinivas said "We will intensify awareness campaigns against red sanders smuggling activity in all vulnerable forest fringe areas in the district.".
