Andhra Pradesh government to sell seized red sanders

HYDERABAD: The cash-strapped Andhra Pradesh government has made a cool Rs 345 crore through the sale of precious red sanders logs in the last two months, but it is still far from earning what it had hoped. The deadline to dispose of the logs, that were seized from smugglers over the years, is April 30 this year and the government still has 1,446 tonnes to sell. The e-bidding and e-auction were held on Dec 19, 21, 23, 27 and 29.

The sale of red sanders logs is prohibited under international law. But in 2013, the AP government obtained a one-time permission to auction 8,498.09 tonnes under a treaty with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES).In five auctions conducted subsequently , the government managed to dispose off 7,052 tonnes. This includes the latest auctions held in December 2016 and January 2017. The forest department had put up 2,800 tonnes for sale, of which it received successful bids worth Rs 344.85 crore ($5,15,05,292) for 1,136 tonnes in December.