TIRUPATI: “If the youth of Tamil Nadu can squat on the roads and ensure that the ban on their traditional rural sport ‘jallikattu’ is lifted, why cannot their counterparts in Andhra Pradesh do the same to safeguard their cherished possession, the red sanders?”
This was the question raised at the workshop on ‘Multi-disciplinary approach to contain red sanders smuggling’ conducted here on Tuesday. The event was organised by the Red Sanders Anti Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) to gather inputs and share data with the other wings of police such as law and order, intelligence, anti-corruption, police training college, special protection force, crime investigation and vigilance and enforcement.
Deputy Inspector General of Police M. Kantha Rao emphasised the need for unity among the people of the State and a commitment from the bottom of their heart to protect the tree. In this connection, he drew parallel to the movement by the people of Tamil Nadu and their fighting spirit against the ban on jallikattu.
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Additional SP (Law and Order) M.V.S. Swamy said that a hard stance was required to safeguard the red sanders, else it could vanish like the sandalwood of Tamil Nadu. Deputy SP (Police Training College, Kalyani Dam) Rushikeswar Reddy informed that awareness was being created to the new recruits on the importance of red sanders as ‘State wealth’.
Intelligence inspector Janardhan Naidu, ACB inspectors Vijay Sekhar and Lakshmikanth Reddy, Additional SP (red sanders) Ravishankar, B.V. Ramana, a social activist of Seshachala Parirakshana Samiti, spoke.