With the State government taking a decision to dispose of red sanders logs through global tenders to pool up funds for the exchequer, forest officials in Chittoor district are getting ready for the exercise.
Senior forest officials in the division have submitted the complete details of the stocks in their purview to the State government on July 15. From Tirupati godown alone, the stocks earmarked for global tenders were put at over 1400 metric tonnes. Though the Forest Ministry tentatively fixed a price of Rs 10 lakh per metric tonne, the officials maintain that they have exact idea about the price to be quoted for the tender process.
Divisional Forest Officer (Chittoor East), Srinivas Reddy told The Hindu that the red sanders logs are currently stocked in five depots in the State at Tirupati and Bhakarapet in Chittoor district; Rajampeta and Kadapa in Kadapa district; and Venkatagiri in Nellore district. "We have submitted the details to the government regarding stocks. Similarly, the red sanders logs seized elsewhere in our division have been shifted to Tirupati depot," he said. The stocks from the other four depots would also be pooled up for the global tenders.
Meanwhile, the process of global tenders of red sanders logs is altogether a new experience to the forest department. Except for the vague knowledge that the precious wood would be in colossal demand in China, Japan and Germany, they said they were absolutely in the dark about the exact utility value of the red sanders.
Another senior official on condition of anonymity observed that the State government could go slow on the global tenders, for after all there had been already years of delay in the exercise. "Fortunately, the smuggling activity has also received a severe jolt in the endemic region of Seshachalam hills thanks to the combing activity and unprecedented vigilance during the last two months. Several kingpins are nabbed. The value of the logs per tonne could be even more than Rs 10 lakh in the international market. A planned execution of the global tenders with pucca knowledge about the material's uses would be economically more viable to the State," the official said.
