Govt. abetting sandal mafia?

By G. Prabhakaran

PALAKKAD, SEPT. 14. The previous LDF Government and the present UDF Government seem to have succumbed to pressure from the sandal mafia by going back on the move to promulgate the Kerala Forest (Amendment) Ordinance, 1999 and introduce a Bill in the Assembly aimed at controlling the increasing illegal activities of the mafia which smuggles sandalwood and allegedly extract oil in 20 factories in the northern parts of the State.

The Government had drafted the Ordinance in 1999 with a view to amending the Kerala Forest Act, 1961 after obtaining consent from the President in pursuance of the provisions of Clause (1) of Article 213 of the Constitution. But certain top functionaries of the then Government prevented the promulgation of the Ordinance, believed to be on the excuse that the Assembly is going to meet soon. Subsequently, the Ordinance was drafted as a Bill to be introduced in the Assembly, but that too was blocked, serving the interests of the powerful sandal mafia.

Since sandalwood smuggling has become a menace for the neighbouring States of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, where sandal oil extraction is not allowed in the private sector, they have been repeatedly asking their counterpart to stop allowing such factories and instead set up its own unit. Their reason is that sandalwood from its forests is smuggled to Kerala and extracted in the private factories in Malappuram, Palakkad and Kasaragod districts. Since it involved other States, any law to deal with such matters required the consent of the President.

After the present UDF Government came to power, efforts were made to issue the Ordinance or bring it as a Bill. But the friends of the sandal mafia in the top echelons of the ruling circle here are learnt to have intervened to stop them.

Though in recent time there has been large scale cutting of sandal trees from the Marayoor sandal forest, the Government has not taken steps to bring the law to stop the illegal activity.

The objectives of the Bill are: "(1) prohibit felling of or causing damage to sandal trees in private lands; (2) prohibiting the sale and processing of sandalwood by private persons and restricting its possession by private persons to 2 kg; (3) regulating extraction, accounting the sale of sandalwood from private lands through a departmental agency and give net value after deduction of working charges etc. to the owner of the tree; (4) prohibiting establishment or running of sandal oil units and (5) confiscation of sandalwood and sandal oil along with vehicles, tool, plants, etc., in accordance with Section 61A or 61F of the Kerala Forest Act.

The `Incorporating Provisions Relating to Sandalwood in the Kerala Forest Act - Scope & Scheme' said ``it is estimated that in India sandal is distributed over 9,050 sq km. The largest area is in Karnataka - 5,245 sq km, followed by Tamil Nadu - 3,040 sq km, Andhra Pradesh - 175 sq km, Kerala - 63 sq km, Madhya Pradesh - 33 sq km, Orissa - 25 sq km and Maharashtra - 8 sq km.

The sandal tree is mainly exploited for its scented heartwood from the bole and roots which yield fragrant sandal oil. India accounts for nearly 99 per cent of the sandal oil production in the world. Both sandalwood and the oil are extremely costly and they earn a lot of foreign exchange. That is why the sandal tree had become the most vulnerable to smuggling.''

The draft Ordinance said ``in Kerala, we have no special legal provision or rules to regulate the extraction, possession, trade, processing, etc. of sandalwood or sandal oil whereas in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka there are stringent legal provisions and rules. This has resulted in the establishment of a large number of sandal oil factories in Kerala. The main source of raw materials for these factories is reported to be the sandalwood smuggled from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The Forest Departments of these two States had been repeatedly requesting the Kerala Forest Department to introduce stringent regulations in respect of sandalwood and sandal oil.

``In Kerala, the majority of sandal trees are growing in reserved forests in the Marayoor and Chinnar areas in Idukki district. It is also seen in small pockets of forests and in private lands of Palakkad, Malappuram, Kannur and Kasaragod districts. Sandalwood is extracted only when it is dead since the oil content will continue to increase as the age of the tree increases. The extraction is by uprooting the dead tree since the root has more oil content. There are very strict rules relating to extraction, storage, classification and sale of sandal as provided in volume III of the Kerala Forest Code.''

The draft Ordinance said ``the present policy of the Government is to promote growing of trees in private lands. At the same time, stringent restrictions in respect of extraction, processing and sale have to be imposed.

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