Sandalwood smuggling goes down in Tamil Nadu

Old timers recalled how sandalwood (Santalum Album) smuggling was rampant in the 1980s and 1990s, before red sanders (Pterocarpus Santalinus) became the preferred wood to fell and sell. “We are happy about this change. Otherwise, we would have had our hands full in containing smuggling here,” said officers in Vellore on condition of anonymity. 

The red sanders tree is not exclusive to Andhra Pradesh; it was recorded in this belt in 1950s itself. “But the red sanders in AP is A grade, whereas that in Tamil Nadu is of a lower grade,” said an officer. The district has more than one lakh trees, which are guarded by department personnel and additional staff hired for the purpose, sources added. “The craze for red sanders started only 10 years ago due to international demand, which is increasing the smuggling,” said an officer. However, what is unsaid is the way the sandalwood belt in Jawadhu Hills, said to be the finest in the world for sandal oil, was wiped out by the network in just a few decades. 

As per rules, a sandalwood tree cannot be felled, but can only be used after it ages and falls. The wood is then cut into billets and auctioned. 

However, the Forest Schedule for Rates (FSR) that fixed the wages paid to the tribals of Jawadhu Hills to undertake the labour was not revised for a long period. They were given much lower wages than what the smugglers offered. In the late 1980s, a cloth bag of wood chips brought to Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, just about 32 kms from Vellore, used to fetch the carrier as much as Rs 1,000. This made it the wood from the hills a precious commodity, and its smuggling highly lucrative. It soon wiped off most the trees in the belt, while the rest were cut down by officials as part of questionable plan to eradicate smuggling. This resulted in the closure of government-run automated sandalwood oil extraction plant at Thekkupattu near Vaniyamabdi in the mid-1990s. 

Now, the department has planted 60,000 sandalwood saplings in Jawadhu Hills in the last three years. “The aim is to ensure that the state leads the nation once again in sandalwood production,” officials added.