The Madras High Court on Monday took note of media reports of several poor people from Tamil Nadu being shot dead, injured and arrested after being engaged to illegally fell red sanders in the neighbouring State of Andhra Pradesh.
Justices N. Kirubakaran and P. Velmurugan called for a report from the Director General of Police on the number of such incidents reported in the last 10 years, the quantum of red sanders seized and the number of people arrested.
The judges said mostly people belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in Tiruvannamalai, Dharmapuri and Vellore districts were lured for the illegal work since they suffered from a lack of employment opportunities.
Hence, the Bench wanted to know whether the State government had taken any steps to create job opportunities for the people residing in the border areas and whether sufficient infrastructural facilities had been provided to the locals.
The judges directed the DGP to clarify whether the police in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh conduct any joint operations to identify the smugglers. The questions were raised during the hearing of a habeas corpus petition, and the officials were granted two weeks to reply.
