Guwahati, November 12 2009: The growing illegal trade of Red Sander wood from Andhra Pradesh to different parts of the Northeastern states has become a major concern in view of reported smuggling to China via the Moreh area of Manipur.

Forest officials of Dhubri Forest Division recently detained two trucks loaded with Sander logs on the way to Aizawl, this being the third seizure of Red Sander by Dhubri forest officials at Chagolia inter-state check gate since 2006 .

However, the Red Sander wood is mostly transported concealed under bags of potato and onions and thus often go undetected.

Red Sander was found concealed under onion bags earlier this year and was seized by officials.

It is likely that a large volume of smuggling is taking place as most of the trucks are hardly checked thoroughly at the Srirampur and Chagolia inter-state check gates, a highly placed source said.

Source also said that checking at the inter-state check gates are only conducted when there is tip off from intelligence or when there is specific information about the illegal transportation of Red Sander.

In 2006, Dhubri Forest Division seized two trucks with Red Sander logs weighing 11 tons while in 2009, it seized 8.04 tons of Red Sander and again seized Red Sander weighing 30 tons loaded in two trucks in October 8 this year.

According to sources, this Red Sander which is having a huge demand in China and Japan is being smuggled out using road routes through six states including Assam's Dhubri district to reach the frontier - the Manipur township of Moreh, bordering Myanmar.

Red Sander is grown in just about 5.16 lakh hectares of land, most of it in the Seshachalam Hills and Kadapa, Chittor, Nellore, Prakasan and Kurnool districts of Andhra Pradesh.

What is a major point of concern is the presence of Uranium in Red Sander.

Uranium content in the Red Sander is 1.22 ppm to 0.03 ppm and there are reports doing around about red sander being used as a coolant in nuclear reactors in some Asian countries, sources pointed out.

But despite the presence of uranium in the Red Sander wood, it is surprising to note that there is no instruction from any Central government department like Defence or The Atomic Research Centre to confiscate the wood or imposition of a ban on the transportation of the wood at least to the states which are located at the proximity of China, an official source said.

Sources also said that beside the uranium property presence, Red Sander wood has high demand for medicinal values and is widely used for making different kinds of decorative furniture in Buddhist temples in many South Asian countries.

To prevent precious national wealth from being smuggled out, Divisional Forest Official of Dhubri Forest Division, H..KSarmah had detained the trucks carrying wood and forwarded the documents to the higher Forest officials at Guwahati for verification.

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