NAGPUR: Despite the National Green Tribunal's (NGT) ban on use of coated strings for flying kites, manja is being sold openly in most markets of the city. At many shops, it is reportedly being falsely labelled as cotton thread.
Posing as customers, TOI and some local anti-manja activists bought banned coated strings from JuniShukrawari market. Though most of the shopkeepers had put plain cotton thread on display, they were selling many types of coated strings. 'Udaan' manja, which according to activists is a mixture of coated nylon and cotton thread, seemed to have the highest sales.
When buyers asked for manja, a shopkeeper first offered the white uncoated cotton thread. When customers demanded a stronger string, he went inside a room and brought a black nine-cord manja. The string was not easily breakable since the cotton thread is coated with some substances. The shopkeeper insisted that the sale of this type of thread is permitted.
After the state government's ban on Chinese manja, alternatives like Udaan manja, three-cord, four-cord, six-cord and nine-cord threads became popular. "These are all cotton threads and do not contain any harmful substances," said shopkeeper Pankaj Shahu.
Objecting to this, People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which had filed a plea in NGT, said that sale of all kinds of coated strings is illegal. "The green panel had categorically banned not just nylon manja but also cotton thread coated with glass or metal. There have been cases of people dying after a kite string got entangled in electric wires. Since many strings are coated with metal filings, current can pass through them," said PETA India's government affairs liaison Nikunj Sharma.
The sellers, however, did not seem sensitized about the green court's latest judgement. "Sale of only nylon manja is banned. Cotton threads coated with powder are allowed," said a seller, TarunUdapurkar.
TOI learnt that even the business of nylon manja has only gone underground, but continues on a large scale. Some dealers said on condition of anonymity that manja worth Rs7 crore was unloaded in prominent markets of the city post-Diwali. "Manufacturers are in regular contact with local dealers. A large consignment had come from Noida and was unloaded at Itwari market. In Juni-Shukrawari, nylon manja worth Rs1.5 crore has already been sold out," they said.
Many shops in the local markets have put up boards stating that nylon manja is not available. "Our stock of nylon manja was exhausted last year and we didn't buy fresh stocks," said Vinod Jagnade. Another claimed that they had returned the stock to dealers two-three years back.
However, activists of King Cobra Organisation Youth Force, who are doing their bit in the anti-manja crusade, alleged that nylon manja of various brands is available in the market this year. "Most of the shopkeepers have displayed cotton thread but are stocking manja of brands like Mono Kite and discreetly selling it to select customers. In many shops, nylon manja is being sold under false label of cotton thread," said founder of the organization Arvind Raturi.
In January last year, the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court had directed the government to consider completely banning use and sale of deadly thread for all purposes across Maharashtra. Raturi has sent letters to the HC, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chief minister DevendraFadnavis and other related authorities, stating that the sale of nylon manja is contempt of court and immediate action should be taken.
