Red sandalwood timbers worth crores lie in decay sans auction in Odisha

A significant stockpile of valuable red sandalwood timber remains unsold in Odisha, six years after it was recovered following the devastation caused by Cyclone Titli in 2018. The logs from the Gajapati district have been under the custody of the Berhampur forest division ever since.

Although there had been plans for an international tender, these logs are yet to be auctioned, official sources said.
While red sandalwood gained global acclaim, partly fuelled by its depiction in the blockbuster Hindi film ‘Pushpa’, the timbers lie idle and wane due to persistent exposure to climatic conditions.

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Security measures around the area have raised concerns. Currently, there are only two guards and a single barbed wire fence securing this prized resource. Prolonged storage has led to apprehension about potential loss in weight and quality of the wood.

Earlier, auction attempts from two separate phases saw 38 metric tonnes being sold, leaving a substantial 904 metric tonnes still waiting for a global bidding process. Countries such as China, Japan, and Malaysia, where red sandalwood is used in products ranging from medicinal to alcoholic, show high demand for red sandalwood.

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Forest officials stated that 18 security personnel and 38 CCTV cameras are in place to safeguard the remaining timber. Despite these precautions, the failure to auction the red sandalwood has triggered doubts about its potential future and the adequacy of its management.

“Six years have passed in the meanwhile and the medicinal value of the logs has gradually decreased. The tree barks kept in the open air have chances of being attacked by pests,” an environmentalist Sudhir Rout said.