: In view of growing tension in Seshachalam Hills between cops and red sander smugglers, quacks selling country medicine on the roadsides or practising it in rural areas are left with no choice but to find ‘Maddhi’ tree species as the right substitute to red sandal wood. Like red sanders, Maddhi trees have dark brown and red bark with its wood too resembling the most lucrative species. A number of country quacks who put up temporary tents near bus stands at major towns and mandal headquarters, selling ‘any medicine for any ailment’, are now missing the most-sought-after red sanders mixture, fearing raids by forest sleuths. A Kadapa-based group of quacks in recent weeks have put up about five road-side outlets in Chittoor town, prescribing and selling products of herbs and medicinal powders for ailments ranging from general fever, stomach aches to critical conditions of cancer, TB and AIDS.
Hari, quack from a village near Siddhavatam forest in Kadapa district, said his father and grandfather kept using powder made of red sanders in abundant quantities for curing impotency, besides eye-disorders.
“I saw a number of people with a lot of faith in our medicine. But, we stopped using red sander material. We can’t take the risk of having criminal cases booked against us”, he said.
