Makar Sankranti 2024: Mumbai Police bans nylon manja, says use of it punishable

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Mumbai Police on Friday issued a preventive order banning nylon manja ahead of Makar Sankranti 2024. The order said that the use of it would be a punishable offence.

Mumbai Police said that it is observed every year that during the kite flying festival, injury is caused to people and birds on account of pucca thread made out of plastic or similar such synthetic material commonly known as nylon manja, these injuries many a times turn out to be fatal causing death of people and birds, and it is therefore desirable to protect people and birds from the fatal effects of the kite flying thread made out of nylon or plastic or synthetic thread.

The police's preventive order said, all these threads along with the kites remain on the land and because of the very long life of the plastic materials which are non-biodegradable in nature, they can cause damage to the ecology once they touch the soil strata, these threads continue to cause problems such as blockage of sewers, drainage lines, natural water ways such as rivers, streams, adverse effects on soil and waterways and cattle population caused by such manja. It could also cause suffocation to stray animals due to ingestion of food items along with such nylon/plastic materials, and thus the impact of such plastic materials used for making threads are many.

The order said, extensive use of such synthetic thread which are non bio-degradable, often result in flash-over on the power lines and substations, which may cause power interruptions to consumers, straining and damaging of electrical assets, cause accidents, injuries to wildlife and loss of life, damage to environment and therefore it is necessary to prevent use of such nylon manja for kite flying.

The preventive order was issued by Vishal Thakur, DCP (Operations), Mumbai.

The order said, It is desirable to protect birds which are getting extinct day by day and classified as rare and endangered species. In Makar Sankranti, the kite festival, kite flying takes place in large scale all over Mumbai and hence following order was being issued.

"For the period of 30 days i.e. 12/01/2024 to 10/02/2024, a ban on the use, sale and storage of the pucca threads commonly known as nylon manja made of the plastic or any such synthetic material which is likely to cause grievous injury to the birds as well as to human beings especially during the festivals where kite flying is played, in the jurisdiction of Mumbai Police Commissionerate."

Mumbai Police order further said, this order shall remain in force with effect from 00.01 hrs of 12/01/2024 till 24.00 hrs of 10/02/2024 unless withdrawn earlier. Any person contravening this order shall be punishable under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code. 1860.