Sweet-smelling death

Funnily enough, Marayoor8217;s main asset is also its biggest liability. A burgeoning township in the hills 45 kms from Munnar, it boasts ...

Funnily enough, Marayoor8217;s main asset is also its biggest liability. A burgeoning township in the hills 45 kms from Munnar, it boasts of the largest state-owned sandal plantation in Kerala, frequented by tourists and often plundered by smugglers.

Flanking the arterial Coimbatore-Munnar road, the sprawling plantation is, unfortunately, all too accessible and therefore vulnerable. True there are forest checkposts en route which account for the occasional seizure of smuggled sandalwood. But this, apparently, is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Inveterate smugglers are said to avoid the beaten track altogether; their modus operandi is a closely guarded secret known to few. Somehow the contraband, conveniently sized, is spirited away from point to point until it eventually reaches an unlicensed factory in the plains.

There it is processed into much-sought-after sandalwood cosmetics and other derivatives that fetch premium prices, making the whole operation viable.

Munnar, ringed by tea estates offering a great deal of cover, is one of the conduits favoured by smugglers. This has prompted the Forest Department to set up checkposts at strategic points on the outskirts of the town reinforced by patrolling at night. Yet smugglers manage to thin out the sandal plantation.

Of course, mercenary considerations are at the core of the matter and explain the persistence of the smugglers. Despite the risks involved, sandalwood smuggling is undoubtedly a lucrative operation, known to provide gainful employment for the jobless.

And, not surprisingly, the mafia involved in it are believed to be better equipped than the Forest Department personnel, both in terms of arms and vehicles. So much so that many feel it is safer to run into wild elephants at night 8212; as travellers often do 8212; rather than these miscreants!

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Sadly enough, one of the little-known casualties of sandalwood smuggling is wildlife. Earlier elephants and gaur used to frequent the sandal plantation lured by the succulent shoots of the bamboo groves interspersed in it.

Indeed a herd of gaur had been known to hold up traffic while crossing the adjacent road. Today, thanks to human intrusion, wildlife sightings in the area are rare. Instead one sees emaciated cattle grazing in the sandal plantation. People seem to have forgotten that some years ago the gaur population in the region was all but wiped out by an outbreak of rinderpest contracted from cattle.

However, such considerations matter little in today8217;s materialistic world. And Marayoor is preoccupied with its development into a bustling township that could well compete with nearby Munnar as a tourist destination.