Combing parties of the A.P. Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force, who have been on the job of flushing out woodcutters from various entry and exit points of the Seshachalam hills, opened two rounds of fire at the eastern flanks of Tirumala hills here on Friday. Task force Circle Inspector R. Madhu Babu said that acting on instructions from Inspector-General M. Kantha Rao, the force was engaged in intense combing at the foothills running parallel to the Karakambadi road. “We had to open two rounds of fire as the woodcutters got ready to attack us by throwing stones and axes. While the mob escaped under the cover of darkness, the combing party seized as many as 14 logs strewn all over the rough terrain,” the police said.

The official said that during the last two years, the task force noticed movement of woodcutters on the slopes behind the bio-trim forest office, located close to the foothills. The smuggling network, despite high risk of being captured, had chosen this route due to the proximity of the hills to the road point, that connects several vital roads. “In the two years, we apprehended several woodcutters and seized many logs at the same stretch,” Mr. Madhu Babu said.

A matter of concern

Meanwhile, Mr. Kantha Rao said that with the onset of the Sankranti season, the woodcutters from various parts of the north western districts of Tamil Nadu, particularly from the Jawadi Malai region, would dare entering the Seshachalam hills using various entry points in Chittoor and Kadapa districts to work for the smuggling network so that they could earn money for the festival requirements. He said that additional forces would be deployed to tackle infiltration of woodcutters into the biosphere. Mr. Rao further expressed serious concern at the woodcutters resorting to poaching of wild animals in the jungles.