Officials of the Ranipet forest range seized eight logs of top quality red sanders that weighed around 160 kg, from behind a house near a lake bund in Ranipet town, on Monday evening.
Forest Department officials said that around 6 p.m., officials of the Ranipet forest range got an alert from an individual, S. Ramana (80), about the abandoned red sanders logs behind his house, located opposite the Government Veterinary Clinic, near the bund of the lake. Along with the Ranipet Town police, a Forest team led by R. Saravana Babu, forest range officer (Ranipet) rushed to the spot.
The teams found high quality wooden logs, worth around ₹4 lakh, near the lake. Forest officials brought the seized logs to the forest range office in the town and assessed the quality. A case has been filed by the Ranipet forest range. As per norms, the seized logs were sent to the government timber depot on Tuesday, to make incense sticks. “The seized logs are of high quality, in terms of colour and grains on it. This variety of red sanders can be found mostly in reserve forests around Tirupathi in Andhra Pradesh,” Mr. Babu told The Hindu.
An initial inquiry revealed that the wooden logs were dumped near the lake a few days ago due to the isolated spot of the lake, which lies at a remote end of the town. Forest officials said that the spot would have been a storage point before the logs were transported to their final destination, most probably Chennai. Forest officials said that the seized logs would probably have been sourced from Tirupati, as reserve forests between Chittoor and Tirupati are abundant in high quality red sanders.
At present, around 3 lakh red sanders, with traditional markings, are located in forest areas, covering Ranipet, Arcot, Walajah, Sholinghur and Arakkonam taluks.
