Of the total 460 red sanders in the RF, which were planted by the forest department nearly four decades ago as part of an afforestation plan, 16 were cut from the ground level.
On Thursday, a father of 55 and his son were arrested on charges of cutting down sixteen trees of red sandalwood in Alayamangalam reserve forest (RF) near Chetpet town in Tiruvannamalai
Forest officials said that with his son M. Mohanraj, 20, K. Muniyandi aged 55 is said to have entered RF’s territory illegally several times over these past few months for purposes of surveying for areas where red sander trees are found. During this time they established that surveillance by beat forest officials such as forest watcher and forester was low.
Taking advantage of low surveillance levels in the area, forest officials stated that duo had lured ten to fifteen wood cutters from Kerala into chopping most of them being done within a day.“Muniyandi is a previous offender with cases registered against him in Chittoor and Polur for illegal felling of trees in RFs. Special forest teams have been set up to nab at least 8-10 lumberjacks who are from Kerala,” a senior forest official told The Hindu.
Out of the total six thousand red sanders trees planted almost forty years ago by the Forest Department under an afforestation programme, sixty three were chopped down.
The felled ones were kept at a distance of about half kilometer from Chetpet Main Road so as to make their transportation more convenient. A quantity equivalent to about three tones made up by logs was recovered from their hideout at Krishnapuram near Chetpet town by S. Murugan led team representing Forest Range Officer Polur Range.
At present Polur range has five reserves forests covering an estimated land size totaling12, 500 hectares. Out of these, Alayamangalam RF, where the theft occurred, has the biggest red sanders plantation which covers approximately 20 hectares out of total 1,500 hectares of this RF. Apart from the red sanders type found in Chittoor RFs, there are also others especially in Jawadhu hills that have a poor quality in terms of its colouration, lustre and texture said forest officials.
Theft samples were sent to Chennai and Bengaluru so that other smugglers can assess their quality. Meanwhile the varieties found in other reserves such as those within the Jawadhu Hills are less attractive in terms of color and texture than their counterparts in Chittoor’s forests it was revealed through initial inquiry by forest department.
Forest officials said cases have been filed and special teams have been formed to nab others involved in the crime.
