State ministers say the Andhra Pradesh government has to monetise natural resources to fund welfare programmes, as its tax base has shrunk considerably because Hyderabad, a major source of consumption-based taxes, is now a part of Telangana.
Soon after Naidu took charge, the state police tracked down alleged red sanders smuggler and fugitive Kollam Gangi Reddy in Mauritius. There were 27 cases of red sanders smuggling against Gangi Reddy. Earlier this year, the chief minister asked his officials to prepare a plan for growing red sanders in the forest tracts endemic to this endangered species for sale in international markets.
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The principal opposition party in the state, the YSR Congress, whose president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is allegedly involved in a quid pro quo case, was portrayed by the government's media managers as a party harbouring red sanders smugglers.
On April 7 this year, 20 woodcutters from Tamil Nadu were shot dead in an alleged encounter in Seshachalam forest, adjoining Tirumala hills, by a special task force comprising police and forest department officials. Though such encounter killings involving Naxalites were frequent in the 1990s and early 2000s, Andhra Pradesh hasn't seen such political and public outcry over allegations of a fake encounter.
This wasn't the first incident involving the death of Tamil labourers in Seshachalam forest. On May 30, 2014, eight alleged smugglers were killed in an encounter in the same area, five months after two forest staff were hacked to death (December 15, 2013) by alleged red sanders smugglers.
Following the April 7 incident, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam wrote to Naidu, seeking a credible and speedy inquiry into the incident. "While it is possible these persons might have been engaged in illegal activities, the occurrence of such high casualties in the operation raises concern about whether the task force personnel acted with adequate restraint," he said.
"At one of the sites where bodies were found, seven of the nine dead had been shot in the face or the back of the head. Many had burn injuries on the abdomen, shoulders and hands, the skin peeling off. Barring three, all were in their 20s or early 30s," said a report published on April 7 in the The New Indian Express.
M Kanta Rao, head of the task force and deputy inspector general of police, however, said 150-200 labourers hired by the smugglers had pelted the task force with stones and shot arrows at them in the woods. "The task force opened fire in self defence, in which 20 people, hired daily wagers from Tamil Nadu, were killed," he told reporters.
Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu demanded an inquiry by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court. Andhra Pradesh road transport buses and outlets of Heritage Foods, owned by the Naidu family, were targeted by protesters in Chennai and other places.
Speaking to Business Standard, a senior forest department official said, "As the incident has turned into a big issue between Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, we were asked not to speak to the media on any aspect of red sanders or the killings."
The National Human Rights Commission immediately announced a suo moto inquiry, while the Hyderabad High Court directed the Andhra Pradesh police to record the killings under sections of murder, besides ordering post-mortem of two bodies be carried out again.
Questioning the police action, a recent newspaper report disclosed the contents of a letter written to the Ministry of Environment and Forests by the Andhra Pradesh authorities, seeking red sanders be removed from a list of endangered species. As the letter was written on February 2, 2015, much before the encounter, criticism that the government had decided to deal with smugglers to ensure it alone carried out red sanders trade gained ground.
Chief Minister Naidu, who has just returned from a six-day tour to China (incidentally the prime destination for smuggled red sanders), has remained silent on the issue, though he has assured his Tamil Nadu counterpart that the inquiry into the incident would be quick.
In 1997, red sanders was classified as an endangered species in the International Union for Conservation of Nature list. Last year, the Andhra Pradesh government was given a one-time exemption to sell 8,000 tonnes of seized red sanders in log form. In the first phase, it was able to sell about 3,000 tonnes; a second auction is due in May.
Forest department data show since 2002-03, 12,300 cases were filed and 18,703 people arrested in connection with red sanders smuggling. A total of 12,863 tonnes of wood were seized in these cases.
Many in the border villages of Tamil Nadu, as well as those adjoining the forest area in Kadapa, Chittoor, Nellore, Kurnool and Prakasham districts, are said to be involved in red sanders smuggling. "It is a fact that in the villages located close to the forests, political leaders and their followers are able to travel in SUVs by the money…red sanders money. They come from all mainstream parties," a social activist from Rayalaseema told Business Standard.
According to forest department data, red sanders is available across an area of 467,000 hectares; the Kadapa district alone accounts for 358,000 hectares, followed by Chittoor (55,274 hectare). As Chittoor is close to the state border, it has become a gateway to those engaged in illegal felling of red sanders from Tamil Nadu. Forest department officials say the wood is smuggled by air, as well as sea.
Except Nellore, all other districts largely depend on rain-fed cultivation and are prone to deficient rain, which often leads to the poor taking up alternative means of livelihood, including the felling of red sanders as wage labourers.