Superintendent of Police (Tirupati Urban) Gopinath Jatty on Saturday presented an alarming picture on the indiscriminate felling of red sander trees at Seshachalam biosphere in the Rayalaseema region.
Addressing police and forest officials at a seminar “Curbing of red sanders smuggling — a challenge” in Chittor, Mr. Jatty said that during his recent inspection of a vast stretch of Seshachalam hills to have a ground report about felling of red sanders, he had noticed that the precious trees were indiscriminately felled from Papavinasam at the down reaches of Tirumala hills to the fringes of Kadapa basin.
“The smugglers and hired labourers have played havoc with the red sanders. Nearly eighty percent of the plantation in the thick forest has been axed. We found that the smugglers use roughly 20 per cent of the felled tree, the part that carries commercial value. Going by factors of low commercial value, failed bargains and massive sizes, most felled trees were left behind with the bare trunks,” the SP observed.
Mr. Jetty expressed anguish that by ravaging the forest cover of the biosphere, the sanders’ smugglers are disturbing the ecological balance and further endangering the flora and fauna and bird species. He called for concerted efforts of the forest and police departments to put an end to menace.
