The very word Red Sanders ( yerra chandanam in Telugu), made more popular by the recent Allu Arjun blockbuster, Pushpa, traces the dubious manner in which smuggling of this precious tree species is carried out by mafia raj.
But away from the gaze of Seshachalam forests in Andhra Pradesh, many farmers in the Telugu States, who have planted Red Sanders without any common registry or association, are running from pillar to post to sell their genuinely grown trees, not because of lack of market, but enabling-policy.
Matured two-decade plus old Red Sanders (RS) trees grown in private agriculture orchards in some parts of north Telangana are languishing for want of the necessary permits, and the farmers, who have grown these trees, are literally staring at a bleak future.
