Fact finding Report
Killing of 7 and detention of 2000 by
branding as Red sanders smugglers
National Campaign for DNT Human Rights
(NCDNTHR)
file:///C:/Users/Express/Downloads/Fact_Finding_Report_of_the_killings_and_detention_under_Redsanders_smuggling-libre.pdf
Fact Finding Team Members
SN Name Organisation Mobile
1.
M.
Subba Rao NCDNTHR, National Convener, Hyderabad 8985268973
2.
S. Anna Durai NCDNTHTR, Tamil Nadu
Convener 9842671105
3.
C. Arun Raj,MSW, BL National Legal Rights
Protection Council (NLPC) 7299994166
4.
M.Sundar Babu NLPC, Chennai 9940490022
5.
S.Munuswamy NLPC, Chennai 9600960967
6.
M.Velu Formerly in Police department,
Polur, Tamil Nadu, 8939769343
7.
P.Sekhar, MA,B L Advocate, Polur, Tamil
Nadu 9789558283
8.
S.Bhaskar, MA,B L Advocate, Vellur, Tamil
Nadu 9790107626
9.
K P Senthil Raja Human rights Activist,
Dharmapuri 9994368510
10.
S R Vengatesan Javadi hills 9443038595
11.
Jayasree K Human Rights Forum(HRF),
Kadapa, A P 9989494144
Persons Contacted
SN Name Organisation Contact Mode
1.
Chittibabu Civil Liberties Committee,
East Godavari Over Mobile
2.
Yallanki Venkateswarlu Civil Liberties
Committee, Nellore In Person
3.
N.Seenaiah Sagar Advocate & Uppara
Sangham, Nellore In Person
4.
M.Subba Rao, Advocate Retired Jailor,
Nellore In Person
5.
Maniyaram Nagaraja Journalist, Tirupathi
In Person
6.
Kranti Kumar Civil Liberties Committee,
Chittoor In Person
7.
Chinnam Penchalaiah CPI, Tirupathi In
Person
8.
Chandra Sekhar Reddy RTC employees Union,
Kadapa In Person
9.
P. Siva Reddy CHRD, Kadapa In Person
10.
Phani Raju Retired Jailor, Kadapa In
Person
11.
Parthiban, Advocate Arani, Tamil Nadu
Over Mobile
12.
V. Sreedhar Columnist, India Today
(telugu), Chennai Over Mobile
13.
G.Rama Chandra reddy Hyderabad Over
Mobile
Methodology followed
The Committee as a group and individually
met and talked with various stake holders, along with visiting Daniar Attamoor
village and Javadi hills, in view of eliciting first hand information,
discussed with the kin of the killed in the ‘encounter’ along with the relatives
of the jailed in mates in Andhra Pradesh. The information in the current media and
related information in the digital format also closely perused in preparation
of this report.
Facts
Veeramani’s body near the Railway Kodur
in the forests of Balapalli Range.
Bloated and un-clad bodies of the three
DNTs killed near Tirupathi, before postmartum.
·
Three De-notified Tribe (DNT) Youth of
the Vanniyar community, all below 30 years were killed after arresting and
torturing and later stage managing the show of ‘encounter’ by throwing the bodies on the rocks
located in the forests and by placing the kit bags and weapons. All three are
from the Daniyar Attamoor a village located at the bottom of Javadi hills,
Porur Tq, Tiruvannamalai dist. 29-5-2014 is the date of death given by the
police.
·
Fourth person killed in the Kadapa
district is A. Veeramani, 35years, from the
Vinayakapuram
South, Hamlet of Attimala pattu, Vannurpuram Post, Arani Tq,
Tiruvannamalai
district in the Tamil Nadu, 21-6-2014 is the date of death given by the police.
·
In 2011 a person called ‘Vaaraadi; from
Tamil Nadu was killed at the Mittaplaem village, in Chandragiri Mandal,
Chittoor district, by the forest and Reserve police personnel.
·
‘Murugan’ a person from Tamil Nadu was
killed by the police on the December 2012 in the Karivepakula kona, chamala
forest.
Body of Sambarian Mani
·
On January 29, 2014, a person cIalled ‘Sambarian Mani’ was killed near the police camp
located at the Kalyani dam at a place called
‘Bombaadi’ Village details
of the above three persons are not available.
A sample of 11 in mates in the Kadapa
jail also reveals that, arrested are from the Polur & Chengam tq, in the
Tiruvannamalai dist; Apur Tq, Salem district; Arur Tq, in Dharamapuri dist.;
Chinna Selam Tq in the Villupuram dist, hence it could be concluded that the
arrested are from the above four districts. Field level information reveals
involvement of people from 30 villages among the four districts shown above.
Tiruvannamalai,
Salem, Dharamapuri and Villupuram districts
Yercaud is a hill station in Salem
District, in Tamil Nadu, India. It is located in the Shevaroys range of hills
in the Eastern Ghats; the hill area is near to the Vellore. As
per the 2001 statistics, the total
population of the constituency has been put at 2, 96,171. This included 54,246
(18.32 per cent) from Scheduled Tribes (ST) and 64,276 persons (21.70 per cent)
from Scheduled Caste (SC) communities. With the Vanniyars’ strength being put
at anywhere between 41 per cent and 46 per cent, they are almost evenly placed
in strength and make a sizeable vote-bank.
As per P. John Breto, Organiser, Tamil
Nadu Human Rights Forum, Yercaud Region, the tree cutters are in the grip of
red sanders smugglers in the 16 villages of Maramangalam Panchayat. Some of the
villages are Koothamedu, Sonapadi, Kootumuthal, Arangam, and Vaazhavandi. Every
month scores of tree cutters, head for the Tirupathi Jungles, some return with
money, but many end up in the Kadapa Jail.
K. Subramani (32) of Sattukadu village
has not returned home for the last six months
(till June), in spite of his three little
children desperately waiting at home. “He is in Kadapa prison; we are trying
for bail for him” says father Kuppu samy. V. Rama Chandran, of Kootumuthal
Villge is also a remand prisoner in Kadapa jail; he could not perform the last
rites of his father, died recently.
As per John Breto, Tamil Nadu Human
Rights Forum, tree cutters of Yercaud are one of the fastest tree cutters in
Tamil nadu, they have uncanny knack of felling the trees and shaving off their
bark. They are also swift trekkers, who can walk through the jungles with heavy
head loads of wood. 0ver several decades, these were engaged by the coffee plantation
owners to cut down silver oaks that dot their estates. However, red sanders smuggling
gang have lured the tree cutters with huge advance. These cutters would get Rs.20
or 30 per sq.ft in yercaud, they are being offered 500 per kilo of red sanders
by the smugglers. “The agents or touts of the red sanders smuggling gang offer huge
advance to these tree cutters and take them to Tirupati. They should be arrested
first,”
The ‘Encounters’
Superintendent of Police Sri SV Raja
Sekhar Babu says that, the encounters were took place, for self
protection, since smugglers were
attacking with weapons. Some of the media reports say, the
smugglers are being killed to take
revenge for the killings of two forest officials.
But two forest officials David and
Sridhar rao were killed on December13, 2013, and the
three were killed for attacking STF
personnel in 2014. Except the version of police and
forest officials, version of the accused
not known, Since Sridhar Rao garu is being hailed as
sincere officer, there is a possibility
of getting killed by the STF and armed forest officials, on
the basis of the orders of the higher-ups
or from the persons in power or by the key players
in smuggling.
Of the layers in poaching of redwood,
cutters, carriers and loaders are the primary layer,
headed by group Maestris. Transporters
are the second layer consisting vehicle drivers
and pilots, exporters are the third
layer, all the operations are coordinated by the fourth
layer, with investment and protection,
usually a political kingpin, who usually operate
through a second line of loyalists
consisting labour recruiting agents and field operators
to manage safe transport and negotiate
with the men in uniform.
Primary layer is supported by the local
villagers around the forests, to show the way, in
supplying food material, water etc.,
along with hiding the logs till they were lifted and
transported. Second line loyalists and
vehicle pilots are supported by the corrupt in the
police and forest departments. Every
time, of the two vehicles with one ton caught on
the main roads, 8 vehicles with a load of
10 tonnes will reach the destination safely,
through the agreement between the
department and smugglers.
In the markets of India, red sanders wood
costs Rs 2,000-5,000 a kg, and the price goes
up to Rs 1 lakh in China, according to
traders involved in this business. "A tonne of red
sanders fetches up to Rs 20 lakh in India
but its international price is above Rs 50-80
lakh," a forest officer from the
Vellore range said. "It is smuggled out in ship containers
or as air cargo. Sometimes air passengers
carry them as luggage from Chennai to Kuala
Lumpur or from Delhi to Beijing."
Sources say villagers hired to cut the trees and lug
them out are paid Rs 3,000 for a six-foot
log. Agents make Rs 75,000-100,000 a week
as commission. The lion share of the
smuggling money goes to the 4th layer, while
lowest amount Rs.500 per kg will be
received by the primary layer. Red sander is not
known to have much use in India, but it
is a rare and valued item used in traditional
medicines and woodcraft across China,
Myanmar, Japan and East Asia. It is also used in
the shipbuilding industry and it known to
reduce the radiation of Nuclear reactors. In
China it would cost Rs 1 lakh a kg.
Of the seven persons killed in the
“encounters” three of them were killed during the
regime of Kiran kumar reddy and majority
of them are Denotified Tribes of Tamil Nadu,
who doesn’t have any political clout.
It’s a wonder, even in the dark; police killed the
above only, while there are many other
personnel were present in the scene of offence.
Story of the Sanders link with politics
Red sanders are available in the Sesha
chalam hill range of Nellore, Kadapa, kurnool and
Chittoor districts. While 90% available
in Kadapa and Chittoor districts, 10% available in
the Kurnool and Nellore districts
A group of persons from the upper caste
Reddi and Kamma communities of Chittoor
district started as civil contractors,
due to their political clout and graduated as liquor
contractors and real estate tycoons with
their muscle power and money. Smuggling
started around ten years on a small scale
and took off after the over-exploited tree was
put on the endangered list in the year
2000. Endangered status has increased control
and decreased supply from the forests,
farmers couldn’t sell the redwood available in
their farms, due to the permit regime
vested with forest department and heavy
corruption involved. The conditions have
given way to the underground production,
transport and supply of red sanders taken
over by mafia. Reforms regime of the World
Bank and IMF along with the global
financial crisis turned the real estate ventures
unviable and by the year 2000 majority of
the powerful among the upper castes in the
Chittoor district entered in to the
smuggling of red sanders and occupied key positions in
the mafia.
Two prominent political parties, TDP and
Congress have given membership to the
kingpins of smuggling for their money and
muscle power. Slowly political empires were
spread in to the parts of Kadapa,
Chittoor, Nellore and adjacent Vellore district of Tamil
Nadu; all the prominent political parties
of the region have smugglers and their
henchmen (in the second line) as members.
Smuggling money entered in to the
elections, so that the prominent among
the smugglers become MLAs, Zilla Parishads and
Village Panchayaths presidents and virtually
controlling the political situation. Red
sanders money has flown freely in three
districts of Andhra and two in Tamil Nadu. One
constituency of the Nellore near the
hills, along with Piler, Bhakarapet, Railway kodur,
and Tirupathi along with two constituencies
of Tamil nadu having elected representatives
at all levels, either involved in
smuggling or supported by men and money from the
smuggling.
An item in the Railway Kodur edition of
the Andhra Jyothi daily dtd: 30-6-14 The
politics of Kodur dictated by red sander
smugglers, red money flow like water in the
general elections, followed by MPTC and
Panchayat (local bodies) elections, those
involved in red sanders smuggling over
the years have become so powerful, to run
politics at their command. Those struggling
once for meeting the bare daily food needs
are maintaining posh cars today. Kodur
politics revolve around Tirupathi (Nodal point of
smuggling, from where the kingpins
operate-sic) second line smugglers use to distribute
money among the personnel in the police
and forest department. Politics are being
controlled by Smugglers from the year
2004, persons going for MNREGA works are today
maintaining gangs consisting hundreds of
members. Each smuggler spent lakhs of
rupees for the winn of their candidates
in the MPTC, ZPTC and Panchayat elections and
crores in the general elections so that
the kingpins could be elected as MLAs and MPs.
Analyzers of the politics feel those
smugglers could control the politics locally. As per the
media, there are hundreds of second
liners to Gangireddy in the pullampeta, Railway
kodur, sundupalle and Raychoti Mandals
and these are responsible for recruiting tree
cutters from Tamil Nadu, while Gnagireddy
is supporter of YSRCP. Same thing may
applicable to other second liners in the
TDP and the kingpins. Similarly arrestes are
being made from Yarravariplaem and
Chinagottigallu Mandals, in the Chittoor districts.
However their party affiliations are not
known.
Situation is not much different in the
Tamil Nadu, police arrested 60-year-old folk dancer
Mohanambal at Vellore for her links to
red sanders smuggling. The police said Rs 4.4
crore and 72 gold sovereigns were
recovered from her house. After absconding for
nearly two weeks, Mohanambal and her
sister surrendered in the Vellore court and were
taken into custody. She has bought over
30 houses in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
Rs. 32 lakhs seized by the Yercaud police
during the last Loksabha elections is suspected
from the Red sanders smuggling- as per
the English media.
Link with the encounters
Peddireddy Ramachandra reddy was a
contractor who began with irrigation projects and
diversified into construction, real
estate and mining. He also happens to be the state
minister for forest, environment, science
and technology from 2009-2012. He is a selfmade
politician. Hailing from Rayalaseema's
Chittoor district, he was able to make his
mark despite being a Reddy in an area
dominated by the Balija community (as Kapus
are called in Rayalaseema). While a
student of biology, he was an arch-rival of TDP
president N Chandrababu Naidu during
their college days in Sri Venkateswara University
in Tirupati and had got the better of
Naidu during the college elections in the early
seventies.
According to sources, his association
with Sanjeeva Reddy firmed his hold in the state
politics. When Sanjeeva Reddy was the
President of India, Ramachandra Reddy used to
be a frequent visitor to Rashtrapati
Bhavan, and this in turn enhanced his clout in the
state government led by chief minister T
Anjaiah. Overnight, he became a contractor.
Beginning with irrigation contracts
during the Anjaiah regime, he slowly diversified into
construction, real estate and mining. A
company spawned by him PLR Projects now has
an annual turnover of Rs 1,600 crore.
He got elected on the Congress ticket in
2004; he was not close to Y S Rajasekhara
Reddy and hence did not make it to the
cabinet. But by 2009, the proximity of
Ramachandra Reddy's son while working
with YSR's son Jaganmohan Reddy brought the
two fathers together. As a result,
Ramachandra Reddy became a minister for the first
time in 2009.
Raja Sekhar reddy, died on September 2,
2009 and N. Kiran kumarreddy, has taken
over as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh
on November 24, 2010. Locals of Kadapa and
Tirupathi say that, N. Kishore kumar
reddy, brother of Kiran Kumar reddy couldn’t
tolerate the supremacy of Rama Chandra
reddy in the red sanders smuggling, since he
carved a niche by being forest minister.
Hence Rama Chandra reddy was forced to resign
by the Kiran kumar reddy government as
MLA and minister on Nov 30, 2102.
Subsequently he joined Jaganmohanreddy
and his YSRCP. In fact, a day after YSR's
death was confirmed, Ramachandra Reddy
was the first person to declare that no state
government would be allowed to perform
unless it was headed by Jagan mohan Reddy.
Local people believe that ‘Vaaraadi’ got
killed In 2011 in Chandragiri Mandal, Chittoor
district to teach a lesson to the ranks
and files working for Kishore kumar reddy (brother
of then-CM) ‘Murugan’ and Sambarian Mani
got killed on December 2012, on the
insistence of then Chief Minister Kiran
kumar reddy, so that to stop the flock migrating
towards Rama chandra reddy. Probably
these three dead persons were recruited by the
agents of these two rival groups separately.
Sri. Chandra Babu Naidu started singing
Kollam Gnagireddy song, immediately after the
confirmation of his party coming to
power. Even before taking oath as C.M, he convened
a meeting with the police bosses and
ordered for stopping smuggling within ten days, to
arrest all the smugglers, to complete
operation and assured his protection for the
personnel in the uniform. Naidu also
given instructions for removing persons, with
(opposite) party affiliations in the
Tirupathi based Special Task Force (STF) and
subsequently two Circle inspectors with
YSRCP affiliations were transferred. Present SP
Ramakrishna has taken up 2nd stage of
Operation Seshachalam, without the involvement
of the forest department from the
May20th, 2014. In this background, four Tamilians
were killed by the trigger happy boys in
the STF.
Human rights groups or Journalists were not
allowed to visit the scene of offence; they
were given photographs and given the
police version of killings. Civil liberties Committee
alleged that these are killings by the
state and ‘encounters’ were stage managed. Bullet
wounds on the bodies indicate that the
firing taken place from a close range and with a
confirmed aiming. There are loop holes in
the ‘stories’ of the police. ”On information
about a band of smugglers cutting red
sanders in the forests 300 armed personal were
combing the forests over the last three
days. On 28th May night, on hearing the sound of
cutting trees, armed force personnel
informed urban SP and he sent 25 armed
personnel, who reached the place by mid
night. while all 325 armed police (50 as per the
English media) tried to capture the band
of smugglers at 12 ‘o’ clock in the mid night,
they attacked the police with arrows and
stones, in a bid of self protection police fired
and smugglers fled and police found three
smugglers were dead”. Almost similar ‘story’
with an addition of axes while attacking
the police, is being told in the ‘encounter’ of
Veeramani in the Balapalli range forests,
Kadapa district. STF have killed only Tamil
people even in the darkness of the
forests at midnight, none of the Telugu speaking local
people died, none of the killed are from
the politically sensitive sections like dalits or
tribes, all of them are the DNTs without
any political clout, small farmers or land less
labourers involved in the sugarcane
farming.
All this facts forces us to believe that,
these killings are not random, but carefully picked
up. Probably these 4 were recruited by
the agents of YSRCP. By killing these innocent
people, ranks and files of the YSRCP in
the smuggling could be terrorised along with the
ex-CM and his brother Kishore kumar
reddy. secondly a potential partner like Punganur
MLA Peddireddi Ramchandrareddy along with
his second line, could be warned that, they
are not safe in the YSRCP, Rama Chandra
reddy with his money and muscle power could
influence constituencies at least in
three districts would be an added advantage to the
TDP and rival YSRCP would lose a
potential alley who helps in capturing power.
And survival instincts of Ramchandra
reddy immediately came with an announcement “If
Women Self Help Groups (SHGs) loans
waived, Chandra Babu Naidu will be the Chief
Minister for the next ten years.” Second,
statement came from Mr. Peddi reddy on July
2014, stating that, YS Jagan mohan reddy
couldn’t become C M due to the false
propaganda of his own TV channel and
Daily Paper ‘Sakshi’ which created over
confidence.
Hence we believe these encounters were
orchestrated by the party chief in the ruling
party and these are the state sponsored
murders, in the name of red sanders protection
making innocent labourers as scapegoats.
While News paper reports say that, TDP
personnel in the Kadapa district ordering
the police not arrest smugglers affiliated to their
party and police is in dilemma regarding
the arrests.
The custodial detention
There are about 2000 persons slogging in
the jails over the last six months, majority of them
were arrested from the Trains, buses ,
bus stands and railway stations, rather than from the
scene of offence. They slog in the
district and sub- jails located in Nellore and Chittoor
districts. Four of the arrested are
juveniles and one of the arrested dead in Nellore jail.
Details of the Cases filed as a group on
the detained in the Nellore & Kadapa
Prisons (sample): As per the information
from the Nellore district Jail, there about 440
detainees booked under the Red sanders
case, of which 236 were booked on the charges
of murder and the remaining were booked
under attempted murder. Cases on Kadapa
Jail detainess - FIR No. 179/213,
Renigunta Urban police station, Date: 18-12-2013 & FIR
No. 175/213 Veeraballi Police Station,
Date: 29-12-2013. Cases on the Nellore Jail
Detainees: In the Court of 5th Additional
Junior Civil Judge, Tirupathi, PRC No: 7/2014;
Crime No. 179/2013, Renigunta Urban
Police station. Sections: 147; 148; 341; 302;
307; 396; 397; 120 B, R-W 34 IPC & 20
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5); Section: 29 (2) b of A P
Forest Act 1967 & A P Red sanders
& Sandalwood Transit rule 3 of A P Forest Act.
As
per the information available majority in the jails are Tamilians, while
followers of
the smugglers in the third line around
the forest villages and crucial in the smuggling,
were not arrested or detained in the
jails.
These sections will receive tree cutters,
taken in to the forests, supply food material, and
arrange shelters or dens in the event of
combing. There are incidents, those in the third
line threaten or kill locals in case of
their non cooperation or leaking information out.
Smugglers recruit tree cutters from Velur
and Salem surroundings through agents.
These tree cutters have to enter in to
the forests through Srivarimettu, Bakarapeta
villages in the Chandragiri Mandal. Hence
Tamilians will reach Panapakam, Mungali
pattu, Nadimpalli, Aithepalli villages in
Chandragiri Mandal. Police and Forest department
have the details of those help the tree
cutters, but none of them were arrested or killed
in the encounter. It was estimated that
there are about 100 persons in the third line,
along with their helpers in the
Chandragiri Mandal and these were untouched by the men
in the uniform from the police and forest
departments due to the money involved and
political clout. Red sanders are like
cottage industry in these villages, third level persons
in smuggling were given shelter in the
SC, ST Colonies as relatives on the insistence of
agents. In case of factions, cases filed
on each other about involvement of their rival
groups in smuggling and police never
filed case or took action. When ever, higher ups
insist there will be some movement as eye
wash and then life will be as usual in the
villages. Arrests will be shown always on
the Tamil labourers, but local smugglers with
the blessings of the Khadi and favourable
to the Khaki will be untouched. Mobile
numbers of the key players in the first
and second levels could be traced from the
arrested labourers and their mobiles, but
forest officials or police would never do that, in
most cases they show the arrest of the
labourers and announce that the ‘remaining’
have escaped and fled away. Curbing of
the smuggling is possible with the detention
and interrogation of the locals, giving
shelter and supplying essentials to the Tamilians.
Narayan swami a retired DSP opines that,
“There is no coordination between the forest
and police. On confiscating one ton of
redwood, forest department estimate the value as
Rs. 20-50 lakhs as per the international
market, while the police announce the value as
Rs. 7-12 thousands. Smugglers are
arrested after confiscating the logs; they would be
remanded by the magistrate, released on
bail and come again to the forests. Details of
the smugglers were not computerised or
they were not watched closely.”
There are Forest Range offices among the
Eastern part of Chittoor district in the Puttur,
Satyavedu, Nagari, SriKalahasti and
Tirupathi. Offices of DFO and Striking Force also
located in Tirupathi, there are about 10
Forest Check posts along the Tirupati and
Renigunta; Vadamalapeta, puttur, Nagari,
Ngagalapuram etc., In spite of all these
arrangements, smugglers along with the
drivers are running away by leaving the red
sanders vehicles and the records of the
vehicles were never used to trace the owners or
smugglers, due to the collusion of the
smugglers with forest and police.
The Chitvel Forest Range officer
confiscated 107 red logs on September 8th, 2013. Of
which 53 logs only recorded in the
control of Venkatasubbaiah, FBO, Anumpalle, Chitvel
Range. All the logs are marked with
Numbers of Forest Department. Police confiscated
lorry No. KA19-AA320, with 32 red logs at
the Nandalur, being smuggled from Chitvel
range office. Police are tight lipped
about number of persons involved and their details
and say that higher officials are
enquiring.
Current situation in the Forests
Special Task Force (STF) boys, along with
lower cadre forest personnel are forced to
enact the ‘combing’ drama, by walking in
the forests aimlessly along the rocky terrain,
containing shrubs and thin tree growth.
Higher-ups say that they have reliable
information about some more Red sanders
smugglers arrived and cutting trees. Combing
is done in 20 members groups while food
is being supplied.
It’s alarming to note that, local people
also shouldn’t enter the forests, as there are
orders for ‘shoot at sight’. Officials
say that, 144 Section is in vogue in the Sesha chalam
forests.
Avulakunta Venkata Subbamma and Khasim
saab from Nookana palle, went in search of
their 40 goats in the forests, along with
other farmers. On seeing the police the villagers
enquired, whether they found any goats.
The police divided them one by one thrashed
with sticks black and blue, accusing as
smugglers. Their appeals to the police were
unheard.
The district Collector Kadapa distributed
65 guns to the forest personnel; of them 12 are
bore pump action guns. He also said that
there 66 Andhra Pradesh Special Police (APSP)
force along with the forest personnel, A
R force is also ready if necessary. There 47
groups, consisting of 6 members in each,
in the base camps, stationed in the forests.
Another 12 strike force teams are there
with 6 members in each team, along with 10
check posts.
The forests in the Nellore, Chittoor and
Kadapa districts are under surveillance, like
disturbed areas. The tribes and forest
dwellers are harassed and not allowed to enter the
forests for cattle grazing, collection of
NTFP or MFP along with dry wood used as
firewood. Their basic right to
livelihoods is violated due to the presence of men in the
uniform. They are thrashing men and women
arresting the Yanadies and Chenchus
accusing as smugglers. Wife of one Yandi
man arrested near Chennur village in Kadapa,
reportedly running pillar to post, for an
amount of Rs.5000 demanded by the Advocate
for securing bail. For poor tribals like
Yanadies arranging surety is impossible even after
securing bail, since they are asset less
and as a result once arrested these innocent
DNTs in the ST list will have to slog in
the jails. Most of the arrested are DNTs like
Vaddera and all the jails are brimming
with these hapless people.
Role of the Advocates
There are 10-15 advocates in Tirupathi,
3-4 from Kadapa district and 4-5 in around
Vellore dealing with red sanders cases.
Arrested will be produced in the court, bail will be
applied by the advocates; their fees
along with sureties would be arranged by the agents
in the smuggling ring. But, this time it
became tough to get bail, even after applying for
two to three times, bail pleas are being
suspended by the respective judges. On the
other hand the advocates are very
possessive about the information and most of them
are reluctant to talk with human rights
activists. On being contacted by the Fact finding
team members over phone, one advocate
from Arani, Tamil Nadu, discouraged our
interference and he also questioned ‘what
is human rights violation in this? They (tree
cutters) went for stealing and killed as
well as arrested. We are trying for bail, and your
interference is unwarranted” was his
version of responding. These advocates are worried
about their livelihood and afraid of
stealing the sheep.
In the central prison
As per the CLC activist East Godavari,
there about three hundred arrested under the red
sanders cases. Majority of them are with
aristocratic look, wearing pony tails, with IPads,
gold chains. Chevireddy Bhaskar reddy,
YSRCP MLA from Chandragiri alleged that, “there
are hundreds to be arrested under the
allegations of red sanders smuggling in the TDP.
They are openly roaming and meeting the
forest minister”. Hence the arrested are
mostly from the upper castes, crucial in
the smuggling and from the opposition YSRCP.
PD Act on the actual smugglers
Chandra Babu Naidu is not the only CM
talking about PD Act on the forest offenders. By
having a glance of the following news
item, this fact could be understood.
PD Act against forest offenders: By
Express News Service - HYDERABAD Published:
30th June 2013 10:22 AM, Last Updated:
30th June 2013 10:22 AM
The state government is contemplating to
invoke the preventive detention law against
forest offenders. Proposals to this
effect were sent to the Centre to bring forest offences
under purview of the PD Act. The proposal
was discussed at the seventh meeting of the
State Board for Wild Life, held at the
Secretariat on Saturday. Chief Minister N Kiran
Kumar Reddy, who is also chairman of the
Board, presided over the meeting.
***
Preventive detention (PD) Act is
perfectly made for harassing political rivals and
could be withdrawn by the state at any
point of time. Preventive detention is for the
action taken beforehand to prevent
possible commitment of crime. Thus is action taken
on grounds of suspicion that some wrong
actions may be done by the person concerned.
Preventive detention can be made only on
four grounds: security of state,
maintenance of public order, maintenance
of supplies and essential services and
defence, foreign affairs or security of
India.
A person may be detained without trial
only on any or some of the above grounds.
Firstly, a person may be taken to
preventive custody only for 3 months at the first
instance. If the period of detention is
extended beyond 3 months, the case must be
referred to an Advisory Board consisting
of persons with qualifications for appointment
as judges of High Courts. It is implicit,
that the period of detention may be extended
beyond 3 months, only on approval by the
Advisory Board.
Secondly, the detainee is entitled to
know the grounds of his detention. The state
however may refuse to divulge the grounds
of detention if it is in the public interest to
do so. Needless to say, this power
conferred on the state leaves scope for arbitrary
action on the part of the authorities.
Thirdly, detaining authorities must give the
detainee earliest opportunities for
making representation against the detention.
At the first instance this act may not be
applicable for the red sanders smugglers in its
present form, hence it needs an
amendment, and amendment couldn’t be done
immediately due procedural delays. All
the arrested are financially well off to hire
efficient advocates so that to use the
loop holes in the act for an earlier release from the
jail.
Probably Naidu garu is confident that,
personnel in the opponent parties could be
straitened within three months and fit in
to his party. All the loopholes in the PD Act
have been already leaked through the
media. Secondly, close lieutenants of his party
started sending feelers. Former Nagari M
L A, Muddu Krishnama Naidu along with Forest
Minister, faulted the police, by charging
them with punishing innocents in the name of
combating red sander smuggling. He said
that, some of the innocents are felling victims
to over enthusiastic approach of police
and forest authorities in dealing with smuggling.
He was quick to add that, has no
objection with the steps being adopted by both the
departments for curbing the menace.
Impact on the Markets
Exporting became tough after rules were
tightened internationally for the endangered
tree. A few farmers still sell legally,
but many have stopped because of the restrictions
on trade. The crackdown and resultant
shortage may push prices of legally sold red
sanders up to Rs 9 lakh a tonne, says a
farmer who stopped felling because of the legal
hurdles. The official price for red
sanders is around Rs 3-5 lakh a tonne. Big buyers with
the capacity to buy 300-400 tonnes at a
go and collect the necessary approvals for
exporting the wood are now seeing
shrunken supplies. There is still scope for exporting
the wood as the last date for sales of
confiscated red sanders falls in the second half of
the year.
Response of Tamil nadu
Tamil Nadu politicians have tried to turn
this into an inter-state issue by accusing the
Andhra Pradesh police of targeting
innocent Tamils. But the Jayalalithaa government
sees it as an illegal activity that needs
to be curbed. All the political parties, who
compete with each other in condemning the
violence on the Tamils in Srilanka are
maintaining silence on the issue, along
with PMK, claims as the party of the Vanniyars.
However raiding continued on the stock
points and arrests are made to some extent.
Except Sun TV, no one in Tamilnadu
visited the family members of the killed in the
Daniyar and the fourth person killed in
Railway kodur couldn’t be traced by the Fact
Finding Committee, since we couldn’t get
information, in spite of the repeated efforts.
Still in deep shock
Family members, Father, Mother &
infant daughter of Siva
Wife of Siva Father of Vijaya Kant Mother of
Venkatesh
Conclusion
Conservation of red sanders is an
ecological issue, but it has tangled as a socio political
issue after including the tree species in
to the endangered list.
This is a problem of forest management,
coupled with smuggling mafia taking over the
supply of wood, so that, a national
resource becoming a source of making billions by a
few upper caste and high profile
criminals, controlling the political situation.
Collusion of political parties with the
smugglers for their money and muscle power,
police and forest departments becoming
spineless by sharing the booty
Poor and hapless Tamil DNT tree cutters
becoming scapegoats in the whole process,
accused as smugglers by the media, killed
in fake encounters and detained in the jails
over the last six months, for settling
scores between the ruling and opposition.
While parties in the power using the
DNT killings and arrests for terrorising the key
players of smuggling in the opposition,
so that they join the ruling party along with
money and muscle power
Party chief in the power is talking
about curbing the smuggling through killings and
arrests. Forest minister is talking about
auctioning of red sanders for the international
market.
Police and Forest department is talking
about creating some more layers with policing
powers.
Media is dishing out stories about the
whooping figures smugglers earn and their links
within and outside the country along with
their innovative modes of operation.
But all the sections are vociferously
advocating protection of the national wealth called
red sanders at least superficially.
While the forest and police personnel
enacting combing drama in the forests, local
tribes and forest dwellers are deprived
of their right to livelihood.
Police also talking about counselling
to the ‘smugglers’ (labourers hired for tree
cutting) and forest department is
planning awareness programs, so that the people know
about the value of red sanders and
protect.
For the kind attention of the stake
holders
Details of the dead and arrested in
connection with the red sanders case to
be posted on the websites of the police
and Jails departments, since this is an
inter-state issue and thousands of people
involved, it becomes a laborious task to collect
data, analyse or intervene.
Withdraw the Section 144 and Shoot at
Sight orders slapped on the poor
living around forests, on the forest
dwellers and poor Tribals of Sesha chalam
forests with immediate effect, since this
is a violation of Right to life and livelihood of
the people depending on the forests.
Tree cutters are crucial in the
operation, every time they were given bail through the
intervention of the smugglers. But now
it’s difficult to secure bail and the poor and
hapless labourers slog in detention over
the last six months. It’s time to break the
affinity and loyalty between the
smugglers and tree cutters through government
humanitarian gesture. We appeal to
withdraw all the cases slapped on the tree
cutters of Tamilnadu unconditionally, by
taking their poverty and limited
involvement in the crime in to
consideration.
Constitute a legal enquiry committee to
investigate in to the killings of forest
officials Sri. Sridhar Rao garu and Sri.
David garu. We suspect these two officials
were not killed by the tree cutters and
this is a handy work of the corrupt forest and
police officials, in connivance with key
smugglers and political bosses, an enquiry to be
conducted by other than the department
personnel in to the killings.
Pay a compensation of Rs.500000 (Five
lakh rupees) to the deceased in the
police or forest encounters and torture
in police custody or detention.
Pay a compensation of Rs.100000 (one
lakh rupees) to the wounded in the
police encounters, police custody,
torture and detention.
Furnish the details of seven killed in
the encounters, along with one dead
under the detention in the Nellore prison
to the blood relations along with all the
concerned case papers and Postmartum
reports including the video recordings of
postmartum.
Conduct an enquiry in to the
‘encounter’ killings of the seven Tamil Nadu tree
cutting labourers by an independent
enquiry committee other than the departments
involved.
Constitute an independent enquiry
committee to investigate in to the links
and affiliations of the Congress, YSR
Congress and Telugu Desam party to the
Red sander smuggling. Estimate each
party’s share in the booty and plundered
amount spent by all the party cadre in
the local and general elections of 2014.
It’s stated that there are sticks of
11060 tonnes of redwood with the forest
department. Estimate the quality,
quantity and financial value of red sanders
properly in the international markets
through a committee constituted with members of
all the political parties, botanists,
timber exporters and retired forest officials with
integrity, along with NGOs serving in the
forestry sector.
Spend 80% of the money earned through
international auction for the
development of villages around the Sesha
chalam forests, so that they will not be lured
by the smugglers, by taking their poverty
as advantage.
Introduce proper red sanders management
system in the wild and private
lands. It is being estimated that, Red
sanders is spread at an area of 5.20 or about 0.5
million hectares. However the Forest
department is helpless in manual enumeration of
the trees or estimate remaining red
sanders tree growth in the wild. Introduce a
monitoring and enumeration system for
conservation and growth, along with lopping
systematically on a sustainable basis in
batches. Because red sanders growth is fast and
with abundant coppicing, smugglers cut
and destroy the growth with unsustainable and
unscientific methods. Forest department
taking over the management will conserve the
species.
Destroyed growth could be compensated
through innovative methods like
tissue culture. Regeneration, plantation,
conservation could be given to local VSS as
per the CFM rules.
50% Profit sharing of sales proceedings
of red wood to VSS in the protected
areas, reserve forests and sanctuaries to
be applied to the red sanders and policy
changes to be made to that extent, along
with provision for cutting trees of full growth
and the years of cutting and other
specifications to be decided by a comprehensive
policy, because this is the red sanders
growth attracting the smugglers to the forests.
Supply of the wood by the department to
the markets will discourage smuggling
operations. The money generated through
this national wealth would be spent for the
society at large, rather than pocketing
by a few anti social elements.
Forest personnel think that, forests
are their private property and reluctant to share
information or power with people or NGOs.
They should be reminded that they are
only custodians and trustees with the
power given by the laws of the land, while
forests belong to the people.
Growing of red sanders in the private
lands to be encouraged and subsidised,
along with plugging the loopholes in the
permit issuance system, by designing software
to recognise each every tree grown and
cut along with date and time.
Corruption in the uniform personnel is
the major problem in the red sanders
conservation, third party monitoring of
permit issuance and transportation along with
enquiry in to the offences of uniform
personnel by an ombudsman system, will
go a long way. Improving the working and
living conditions of the men in uniform is also
looked in to through special allowances
given from the money earned through
international auction.
Constitute a Red sanders conservation
research and export council, to come
out with innovative enumeration of the
species. To find out major world markets, usage
of the red wood in other countries along
with possible value addition through
manufacturing, production and export, so
that valuable Foreign exchange earned and
livelihoods of local people improved.
Tamil Nadu should break the silence and
appeal to the Andhra Pradesh
government for the general amnesty of
2000 detainees slogging in various jails
over the last six months in view of their
poverty and limited role in the offence.
Tamilnadu to constitute a commission to
enquire in to the reasons for
thousands migrating to Andhra, in spite
of the arrests and killings from the 4 districts in
question, let an eminent social worker
with integrity lead, so that to come out with
possible solutions to stop the migration
in search of some additional amount.
Tamil Nadu to implement economic and
social development programs for the
sections affected among the four
districts, from the funds raised through the auction of
red sanders.
Tamil Nadu to Demand for furnishing the
details of four juveniles under
detention (in the red sanders case) so
that the Tamil nadu child Rights Observation
Committee (under the U N O) could deal
the case under the Juvenile Justice Act.
-End of the document-
Party chief in the power is talking about
curbing the smuggling through killings and arrests. Forest minister is talking
about auctioning of red sanders for the international market. Police and Forest
department is talking about creating some more layers with policing powers. Media
is dishing out stories about the whooping figures smugglers earn and their
links within and outside the country along with their innovative modes of
operation. But all the sections are vociferously advocating protection of the
national wealth called red sanders at least superficially. While the forest and
police personnel enacting combing drama in the forests, local tribes and forest
dwellers are deprived of their right to livelihood.
Police also talking about counseling to
the ‘smugglers’ (labourers hired for treecutting) and forest department is
planning awareness programs, so that the people know about the value of red
sanders and protect. For the kind attention of the stake holders Details of the
dead and arrested in connection with the red sanders case to be posted on the
websites of the police and Jails departments , since this is an inter-state
issue and thousands of people involved, it becomes a laborious task to collect data,
analyze or intervene.
Withdraw the Section 144 and Shoot at Sight orders slapped on the poor
living around forests, on the forest dwellers and poor Tribal of Seshachalam
forests with immediate effect, since this is a violation of Right to life and
livelihood of the people depending on the forests. Tree cutters are crucial in
the operation, every time they were given bail through the intervention of the
smugglers. But now it’s difficult to secure bail and the poor and hapless
labourers slog in detention over the last six months. It’s time to break the affinity
and loyalty between the smugglers and tree cutters through government humanitarian
gesture. We appeal to withdraw all the cases slapped on the tree cutters of
Tamilnadu unconditionally, by taking their poverty and limited involvement in
the crime in to consideration.
Constitute a legal enquiry committee to
investigate in to the killings of forest officials Sri. Sridhar Rao garu and
Sri. David garu. We suspect these two
officials were not killed by the tree cutters and this is a handy work of the
corrupt forest and police officials, in connivance with key smugglers and
political bosses, an enquiry to be conducted by other than the department
personnel in to the killings. Pay a compensation of Rs.500000 (Five lakh
rupees) to the deceased in the police or forest encounters and torture in
police custody or detention. Pay a compensation of Rs.100000 (one lakh rupees)
to the wounded in the police encounters,
police custody, torture and detention.
Furnish the details of seven killed in
the encounters, along with one dead under the detention in the Nellore prison to
the blood relations along with all the concerned case papers and Postmortem
reports including the video recordings of Postmortem.
Conduct an enquiry in to the ‘encounter’
killings of the seven Tamil Nadu tree cutting
labourers by an independent enquiry committee other than the departments involved.
Constitute an independent enquiry
committee to investigate in to the links and affiliations of the Congress, YSR
Congress and Telugu Desam party to the Red sander smuggling.
Estimate each party’s share in the booty
and plundered amount spent by all the party cadre in the local and general
elections of 2014.
It’s stated that there are sticks of
11060 tonnes of redwood with the forest department. Estimate the quality,
quantity and financial value of red sanders properly
in
the international markets through a committee constituted with members of all
the political parties, botanists, timber exporters and retired forest officials
with integrity, along with NGOs serving in the forestry sector.
1.
Spend 80% of the money earned through
international auction for the development of villages around the Seshachalam
forests, so that they will not be lured by the smugglers, by taking their
poverty as advantage.
2.
Introduce proper red sanders management
system in the wild and private lands.
It is being estimated that, Red sanders
is spread at an area of 5.20 or about 0.5million hectares. However the Forest
department is helpless in manual enumeration of the trees or estimate remaining
red sanders tree growth in the wild. Introduce a monitoring and enumeration
system for conservation and growth, along with lopping systematically on a
sustainable basis in batches. Because red sanders growth is fast and with
abundant coppicing, smugglers cut and destroy the growth with unsustainable and
unscientific methods. Forest department taking over the management will
conserve the species.
Destroyed growth could be compensated
through innovative methods like tissue culture.
Regeneration, plantation, conservation
could be given to local VSS as per the CFM rules.
50% Profit sharing of sales proceedings
of red wood to VSS in the protected areas, reserve forests and sanctuaries to
be applied to the red sanders and policy changes to be made to that extent,
along with provision for cutting trees of full growth and the years of cutting
and other specifications to be decided by a comprehensive policy, because this
is the red sanders growth attracting the smugglers to the forests.
Supply of the wood by the department to
the markets will discourage smuggling operations. The money generated through
this national wealth would be spent for the society at large, rather than
pocketing by a few anti social elements. Forest personnel think that, forests
are their private property and reluctant to share information or power with
people or NGOs.
They should be reminded that they are only
custodians and trustees with the power given by the laws of the land, while forests
belong to the people.
Growing of red sanders in the private lands to
be encouraged and subsidized, along with
plugging the loopholes in the permit issuance system, by designing software to recognize
each every tree grown and cut along with date and time.
Corruption in the uniform personnel is
the major problem in the red sanders conservation, third party monitoring of
permit issuance and transportation along with
enquiry in to the offences of uniform
personnel by an ombudsman system , will go a long way. Improving the working
and living conditions of the men in uniform is also looked in to through
special allowances given from the money earned through international auction.
Constitute a Red sanders conservation
research and export council, to come out with innovative enumeration of the
species. To find out major world markets, usage of the red wood in other
countries along with possible value addition through manufacturing, production
and export, so that valuable Foreign exchange earned and livelihoods of local
people improved.
Tamil Nadu should break the silence and
appeal to the Andhra Pradesh government for the general amnesty of 2000
detainees slogging in various jails over the last six months in view of their
poverty and limited role in the offence.
Tamilnadu to constitute a commission to enquire
in to the reasons for thousands
migrating to Andhra, in spite of the arrests and killings from the 4 districts
in question, let an eminent social worker with integrity lead, so that to come
out with possible solutions to stop the migration in search of some additional
amount.
Tamil Nadu to implement economic and
social development programs for the sections affected among the four districts,
from the funds raised through the auction of red sanders.
Tamil Nadu to Demand for furnishing the
details of four juveniles under detention (in the red sanders case) so that the
Tamilnadu child Rights Observation Committee (under the U N O) could deal the
case under the Juvenile Justice Act.
-End of the document-
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