The Andhra Pradesh Red Sanders Anti Smuggling Task Force today welcomed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami's advice to authorities to take stringent action against the agents who engaged workers from the state for cutting red sanders.
The agents were playing a key role in the illegal felling and smuggling of red sanders from Seshachalm forests of Andhra Pradesh and had been recruiting wood cutters from Tamil Nadu, a top official of the Task Force said.
If stringent action was taken against the agents, no one would venture into the Seshachalam forests to cut the wood, M Kantharao, IGP, Red Sanders Anti Smuggling Task Force told PTI here.
The red sanders smuggling would come down significantly if action was taken against the agents, he said.
The tribal people of Javadhu Hills in Tamil Nadu were highly skilled in cutting as well as skinning the red sander trees. This prompted the agents to engage these people for cutting the sander tree here, Kantharao said.
As many as 84 suspected red sander woodcutters from Tamil Nadu have been arrested on March two by the Andhra Pradesh Police for allegedly entering into Seshachalam forests for cutting the red sanders.
They were released the next day on a personal bond of Rs 10,000 each.
Taking serious note of the increasing arrests of Tamil workers in Andhra Pradesh on charges that they were engaged in cutting red sanders, Palaniswami had recently urged the Distrcict Collectors to take stringent action against the agents who engage the workers for the job.
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