Union Minister of Tourism G. Kishen Reddy said that the Centre will extend all its help to the State government in wiping out the red sandalwood smuggling menace.
Mr. Reddy, who is on his maiden visit to the town after assuming the Union Cabinet position for the second time, offered prayers at the hill temple of Lord Venkateswara on Thursday.
Speaking to media outside the temple, Mr. Reddy expressed concern at the indiscriminate felling of the precious trees, which have a great demand in the international markets and said that the State government should hold deliberations with the Centre as well as other neighboring states to check the illegal smuggling.
“The issue is no longer confined to the State alone. People belonging to various states as well as other countries are also involved in the illegal transportation of the wood. It was with an intention to high light the gravity of the menace that I had embarked on a day long field inspection of the Seshachalam forests a couple of years back,” the Minister said.
Mr. Reddy expressed his satisfaction at the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD)’s decision to rebuild the Vakulamatha temple on the outskirts of Tirupati and said he had prayed to the presiding deity to shower his blessings in bringing the ram-shackled economy back on the developmental tracks and also bestow enough strength on Prime minister Narendra Modi to succeed in his efforts in tackling the problems on both domestic and international arena.
Earlier, TTD chairman Y.V. Subba Reddy, executive officer Dr. K.S. Jawahar Reddy, Addl EO A.V. Dharma Reddy facilitated the Minister and his entourage with the darshan and honoured them with laddu and theertha prasadam (sacred water) of the deity.
