Cash-strapped Andhra Pradesh which has made 345 Crore through the sale of Red Sanders seized from smugglers, is still far from earning the targets it has set. The government still has 1,446 tons to sell but the deadline set for disposing of them will be complete by April 30th.
International laws prohibit the sale of red sanders logs. But in 2013, the AP government obtained a one-time permission to auction 8,498.09 tons under a treaty with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES).
Given the current trend, the government is likely to make about Rs 400 crore by selling the leftover stock, making it close to 750 crores earned from the auction of 2,800 tons. The state government has hoped to make a whopping 1000 Crore from the sale of these logs but is not the case now.
