After field-level activities like intensive combing, digging trenches along the forest periphery, setting up base camps in the deep forest and check posts along highways, protection of the red sanders-rich Seshachalam forest is all set to go to new heights with the likely deployment of drone cameras.
Taking cue from Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s hint at adopting modern scientific tools like drone cameras, geo-fencing, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and laser beam technology at appropriate places, the officials on Monday and Tuesday witnessed the demonstration of a modern drone camera for aerial surveillance of the forests. Red sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) Deputy Inspector-General M. Kantha Rao got the drones tested at two locations, Mekalabanda near SV Zoo Park and Kumaradhara Pasupudhara dam atop Tirumala hills. “The drone is fitted with a high resolution camera that rotates 360 degrees, besides having a tracker to follow suspicious movements,” Mr. Kantha Rao told The Hindu .
Superintendent of Police (Tirupati Urban) R. Jayalakshmi, Chief Conservator of Forests P.V. Chalapathi Rao, Divisional Forest Officers T.V. Subba Reddy (Wildlife) and B.N.N. Murthy (Taskforce) also watched the taking off and perfect landing of the drone, and its camera neatly capturing the images.
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The drone will add great value in areas marked as ‘hotspots’, i.e., places that are home to mature red sanders trees. The images will be transmitted to the base camps to enable officials track the culprits. The day and night monitoring proved successful, but it is not known if the cameras would be absorbed into the task force’s paraphernalia immediately.
Logs seized
Two RSASTF teams led by Sub-Inspectors Vasu and Vijay Narasimha recovered a huge cache of red sanders logs during separate combing operations near Tirupati in the early hours of Wednesday.
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While the first team seized 16 logs from Yenugubomma in Bhakarapet ghat road, the second one recovered 27 logs in the Karakambadi forest.