AP govt defers e-auction of red sanders to October

Andhra Pradesh Government has postponed the e-auction of 4,160 tonne of red sander logs to October 10-17, a senior official said here today.
"The e-auction was originally scheduled to be held between September 19-26," Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, AV Joseph said.
He said MSTC Limited, a public sector undertaking, has been authorised to conduct the online auction.
The newly-formed government of Andhra Pradesh has decided to take the e-route to auction several lots of the precious wood in a bid to generate additional revenues.
"The government has notified that about 4,160 tonne of graded red sandalwood or red sanders will be sold by an e-tender-cum-e-auction through MSTC Ltd," Joseph said.

However, the government did not assign any reason for its decision to put off the auctioning process.

Red sanders (Pterocarpus santalinus) is endemic to the forests of Seshachalam, Veliganda, Lankamala and Palakonda hill ranges distributed in districts of Kadapa, Chittoor, Nellore, Prakasam and Kurnool.
In last few years, the Centre did not clear the sale of red sanders, though there is a huge demand in China and other overseas market, resulting in illegal export.
In the absence of an official sale route, a wide smuggling network started thriving and has become a major law and order menace in Chittoor and other districts.

Over 8,500 tonne of seized red sanders is readily available for sale in the international market.