The Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) headquartered in Tirupati is expected to get more teeth and become proactive under the Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB). The State government has recently delinked it from the Ananthapuram Range and tagged it to the SEB, in view of the typical and specific nature of the crimes it deals with.
Addressing the maiden meeting after the change on Thursday, SEB Director and Deputy Inspector-General of Police Avula Ramesh Reddy hinted at the conduct of an inter-State meeting of Police Departments soon to discuss threadbare the issues pertaining to red sanders smuggling and the need for concerted measures to protect the precious wood that is endemic to the Seshachalam Hills.
He advised the Joint Director (Chittoor) Vidyasagar Naidu and Superintendent of Police (RSASTF) M. Sundar Rao to boost surveillance at the entry points into the forest and take the cases coming up for trial in various courts to their logical end.
