Pawan’s Red Sandalwood Operation Gets Big Push from Centre

To help the state government’s forest department to protect the endangered species of red sandalwood, the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) under Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has released a total of ₹39.84 crore for the protection and conservation of Red Sandals. This includes ₹38.36 crore to the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department and ₹1.48 crore to the Andhra Pradesh State Biodiversity Board. 

Thanks to the efforts of DCM and Forest Minister Pawan Kalyan who has taken a personal interest in improving the condition of Red Sanders protection efforts. During his recent inspection visit to the Tirupati Forest Department, he conducted a special inspection review of the seized Red Sanders stock, looking into the current status of the timber, the security arrangements and the ongoing anti-smuggling operations. He reportedly expressed strong concern over the continuing smuggling attempts and assured that a special operation will soon be launched to crack down on the networks involved where the smugglers would be hunted down.  

Additionally, the NBA has approved the raising of one lakh Red Sanders saplings by the Andhra Pradesh Biodiversity Board at a cost of ₹2 crore, strengthening conservation outside natural forests.

Red Sandalwood, known globally for its deep red timber and grown naturally only in a few Eastern Ghats districts like Chittoor, Kadapa, Anantapur, Prakasam, and Kurnool across the Seshachalam and Nallamala forests that remains highly vulnerable due to illegal trade and has a huge demand in Japan and China. Recently, the state government generated ₹87.68 crore through regulated access to auctioned or seized Red Sandalwood. 

With DCM Pawan Kalyan’s personal interest and the ruling coalition government in power, they were able to put some pressure on the government and just within days of Pawan’s visit the Centre made one of India’s biggest biodiversity-linked payouts through these funds.

Thus, now the Centre gives a green light for Pawan Kalyan’s operation on RedSandalwood to go ahead as it is expected to improve forest protection, support frontline staff, empower local Biodiversity Management Committees and give a strong push to state fight against Red Sandalwood smuggling.