TDP Shielding Red Sander Smugglers: Bhumana
Hyderabad: YSR Congress has said that TDP government has been shielding red sander smugglers who are looting the natural resource as the task force set to check the menace has been made ineffective.
Speaking to media, Bhuman Karunakar Reddy told ‘The task force has been ill-equipped in terms of weapons, powers and man power and it has to play the second fiddle to the Forest Department which has been hampered the progress and this is being done by design as many TDP leaders are giving a helping hand to the illegal activity.’
Though Chandrababu Naidu has boasted that he put down the red sander smuggling with an iron hand, there was no progress and it has been by design and red sander smuggling has been going on unabated in five districts, he said.
His claim that the amount realized from the auction of the seized red sanders would be used for loan waiver of farmers and DWACRA groups did not see the light of the day and the natural resource has been publicly looted.
A task force has been set up to check the red sander smuggling but the posts were not completely filled and they were not supplied with modern weapons and the force has no trained personnel. The task force has to work under the Conservator of Forests and they have limited powers.
We demand that a special force be set up on the lines of Grey Hounds to check the red sander smuggling as the force has to fan 11 lakh acres spread over five districts and has over 1.10 crores trees. This natural resource has been misused by miscreants and the government has been helping them instead of checking the menace, he said.
