Curious case of now 'relaxed' red sanders export norms

By Johnlee Abraham | First Published Sep 4, 2016, 8:18 AM IST

Ban on Export of red sanders wood in log form has been relaxed for export of 383.13 tonne
In 2015, 20 alleged red sanders smugglers from Tamil Nadu were gunned by police in the Seshachalam forest in Andhra Pradesh

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has issued a notification relaxing export red sanders, an endangered species of flora protected under the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna. It is illegal to possess and sell the same and therefore makes for a curious case of why the government would encourage its export.

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“Prohibition on export of red sanders wood in log form has been relaxed for export of 383.13 tonne through state governments of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu,” the government has said in the notification.

It had recently revised the total quantity of red sanders wood exports by the Andhra Pradesh Government.

Many would recall in April 2015, the media had reported that 20 men from Tamil Nadu had been killed in an encounter in the Seshachalam forest in Andhra Pradesh, where, according to the State police, they were cutting down red sander trees and had attacked policemen and foresters of the anti-smuggling task force.

Independent investigations proved beyond doubt that 20 innocent villagers from Tamil Nadu, travelling through Andhra Pradesh in search of work, were murdered in cold blood by policemen of the Andhra Pradesh Task Force on the morning of the 7th April, as the last act in a planned, elaborate operation that began with the abduction and torture of the victims, chosen apparently at random, the night before. The motive behind the staged encounter is still not clear.

In 2009 I had reported on a major international racket reportedly trading in the smuggling of red sanders wood from Andhra Pradesh to China through the Moreh border in Manipur. There was a sudden spike in the smuggling of the commodity that year.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence near Aizawa had intercepted a consignment of around 2000 logs of the highly endangered forest produce, sometime in October that year. At the same time, six Chinese nationals were apprehended from a retired police officer's residence in Aizawl, where the consignment was hidden. Three of them did not have any visa or papers. The other three did not have permit to enter Mizoram. Surprisingly, they were let off without any action.

Since August 2009, at least 100 metric tonnes of red sanders were seized in Manipur and Mizoram, valued at ₹4 crore. It fetches six times more in the international market. Six hundred metric tonnes of wood were in transit in Dhubri and Burdwan, where the forest department seized it.

Red Sanders has no known use in India. Internationally, it is used in the making of Japanese musical instruments and Chinese medicine. It is usually found in the Seshachalam hill ranges spread across Kadapa, Chittoor and Kurnool in the Rayalaseema region and parts of Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh.

Then the Indian agencies believed that the smuggling was controlled by an international syndicate run by Veera Moreh Shekhar, who reportedly based in Malaysia.

But given its high-value demand and the presence of rare earth elements like Thorium and Uranium, Indian agencies suspect that it has other use as well.

Kishalay Bhattacharjee is a senior journalist and author. His most recent book is Blood on my Hands: Confessions of Staged Encounters (Harper Collins 2015). The views expressed here are his own.

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