Neth FM, one of the popular radio channels in Sri Lanka had a program on 17th April 2012 regarding illegal sandalwood trade. The most highlighted issue in the program was the illegal felling of sandalwood trees from Buddhist Temples in many areas of the country. Those trees in the temples were kept due to the religious and cultural values and not due to the monetary values. Therefore Buddhist Priests let those trees to grow for a long time and the size of such trees could be the most attractive feature for those ruthless people. The other reason could be the very low security in the temple premises.
The producers of the program repeatedly questioned the inability of the Sri Lanka police to catch the crimes at least when the heavy logs of sandalwood are transported to different locations from the illegally harvested areas. They suspected that the very powerful people may be behind this illegal sandalwood trade and that could be the reason for not having the crimes caught.
During the program villagers from many areas of the island made telephone calls complaining about thefts of their trees. The population of naturally grown sandalwood in Sri Lanka is declining at an alarming rate and therefore actions should be taken immediately to sop these rackets before it becomes too late.
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