Bhubaneswar, Sept. 7 -- https://images.odishatv.in/uploadimage/library/16_9/16_9_0/recent_photo_1757235687.webp
The smuggling of red sandalwood shown in Tollywood Icon Star Allu Arjun's blockbuster Pushpa franchise gripped audiences with its daring depictions of timber mafias. But recent scenes from Himachal Pradesh bore an eerie resemblance- not on the silver screen, but in reality. As devastating floods swept across the hill state, rivers carried away massive piles of cut logs, raising alarms about a hidden timber smuggling network thriving in the fragile Himalayan ecosystem.
Videos circulated on social media showed torrents of floodwater dragging hundreds of neatly chopped tree trunks downstream.
These floods in Himachal have exposed ...