Question : Smuggling of Red Sandalwood

(a) whether incidents of illegal cutting of precious red sandalwood trees by sandalwood mafia in various States of the country and smuggling it to foreign countries through JNPT port, Mumbai are on the rise;

(b) if so, the number of such cases reported, number of guilty persons arrested and the action taken against them during
each of the last three years and the current year, State-wise; and

(c) the directions issued by the Union Government to the State Police and the JNPT port police for taking stringent measures to put a check on such cases?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS
(SHRI HARIBHAI PARATHIBHAI CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (c): The data on smuggling of redsandalwood is not maintained centrally even though incidents of cutting of redsandalwood has been reported by the Media. Further, ‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are the State subjects under the seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India and therefore, the State Governments are primarily responsible for prevention, detection, registration and investigation of crime and for prosecuting the criminals through the machinery of their law enforcement agencies. The State/UT Government also dwells in the Protection and Management of Forests and the action to tackle illegal felling of trees is also taken as per the provisions contained in the Indian Forest Act, 1927; Wildlife Protection Act,
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LS.US.Q. NO. 145. DATED FOR 21.07.2015

1972; Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and also as per the various state specific rules & regulations thereof. In order to check the smuggling of Red Sanders in a comprehensive way, the Government of Andhra Pradesh has created a separate wing for containing Red Sanders smuggling which is monitored at a senior level.

The field formations units of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) have been sensitized to prevent the smuggling of all Rare/Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna from Indian precious Forest Wealth. Surveillance has also been enhanced by the Customs at International Airports, Ports and Land Customs Stations (International Borders) to check the menace.

The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered 2 cases during the year 2012, while, the case of Red Sanders and sandalwood seized by the Customs formations during the period is as follows:-


Year No. of cases of Red Sanders
Qty (in MTs)
of Red Sanders No of cases
of sandalwood
Qty (in MTs)
of sandalwood
2012-13 101 967.07 2 21.4
2013-14 322 922.26 79 3.13
2014-15
(uptoJan,15) 118 526.17 21 3.69

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