Red sanders auction deferred to November
HYDERABAD: Despite Andhra Pradesh government getting nod from the Hyderabad High Court to go ahead with its proposed global auction of red sanders seized from smugglers, the state government was planning to postpone the auction, scheduled from October 10. The auction may now be held in the last week of October or November.
According to sources, as quite a large number of potential foreign bidders were not in a position to take part in the auction scheduled for October 10, forest department officials have asked the state government to postpone the auction.
It is learnt that the state government in all possibility is likely to allow the forest department to postpone the auction. The AP government planned to hold e-tender-cum-e-auction for six days between October 10-17, in 177 e-lots containing 1,77,877 logs.
The state government was given permission by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Government of India (GoI), under the EXIM policy to export 8,584 metric tonnes of the seized logs in two phases to raise resources.
While about 4,160 MTs of graded red sanders is scheduled to be auctioned in the first phase from October 10, the remaining quantity would be sold depending on the response in the international market in the next phase.
As many as 140 overseas buyers, including 109 from China, besides 275 Indian visitors so far made physical inspection of the red sanders lots located at various depots of the forest department in the state.
News Posted: 8 October, 2014
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