The Uttarakhand police have registered 11 first information reports (FIRs) against shopkeepers for selling nylon coated strings, also known as Chinese ‘manjha’ (kite string), during a special drive to curtain the sale of the banned product.
Of the 11 FIRs, eight were registered in Haridwar, while three were filed in Dehradun.
The Haridwar police also recovered a large stash of Chinese ‘manjha’ from the market and destroyed 150 boxes. The police action comes in the backdrop of an incident where a biker died on January 1 in Haridwar when the kite string got entangled around his neck while he was returning home from work.
The use of Chinese manja, a synthetic nylon string coated with abrasive materials like powdered glass or metal, poses significant risk to public safety, wildlife, and the environment. It was officially banned in India in 2017.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT), vide its order dated 11 July 2017 in the ‘Khalid Ashraf vs UOI’ case, directed, “There shall be total ban on the manjha or thread for kite flying which is made of nylon or any synthetic material and/or coated with synthetic substance and is non-biodegradable. All the chief secretaries of all the states/UTs are directed to enforce the prohibition of manufacture and use of synthetic manjha/nylon thread for kite flying throughout their state/territories.”
“The accidents caused by Chinese ‘manjha’ have caught the attention of the entire country. In Haridwar too, a biker died after his throat was slit by the Chinese ‘manjha’. Apart from humans, there is also a threat to birds and the environment. To curtail these incidents, we initiated a crackdown on the sale and use of such kite strings and confiscated bundles of Chinese ‘manjha’. We also registered eight FIRs for the sale of banned Chinese ‘manjha’,” Haridwar senior superintendent of police Pramendra Dobhal said.
He further said, “We destroyed 150 boxes of Chinese ‘manjha’ as per the laid down rules.”