Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday asserted that the Delhi Government had not delayed a file on ban on use of Chinese manjha (kite string) -- which has caused several deaths -- but alleged that delay in clearing the file occured at the lieutenant-Governor office and the Environment Secretary.
Displaying the File Movement Register’s copy to the media, Sisodia said, “I received the file at 3.57 pm on August 9 and seeing the importance of this matter I cleared it within a few seconds.” Sisodia said the file was cleared by the Delhi Environment Minister and the Chief Secretary on the same day.
“It was sent to the office of Environment Secretary on August 10. The file was kept for seven days there,” he added. “The delay was not on our part but it took four days at the l-G office,” Sisodia said. The file was sent to the l-G office on August 5, and they got it back on August 9, he said.
On the other hand, lt Governor office stated that the Government therefore has not placed a Final Notification for approval of the lt. Governor, which would eventually and strictly ban the use of Chinese Manjha.”
lieutenant-Governor office clarified that the said file was received in the lt. Governor’s office on 8.8.2016 (Monday) vide Diary No.25849 and after due approval, it was sent back on 9.8.2016 (Tuesday) to the Office of the Hon’ble Dy. Chief Minister. Copy of the lt. Governor’s File Monitoring Details is enclosed. Further, it is clarified that the notification placed before the lt. Governor was a”DRAFT NOTIFICATION” stating “notice is hereby given that the said draft will be taken into consideration after the expiry of a period of sixty days from the date on which copies of the Delhi Gazette containing this notification are made available to the public together with any objections or suggestions that may be received in respect thereto within the stipulated period.”
It may be noted that the use of Chinese manjha claimed three lives including two children and a 22-year-old man in the past few days. To protect birds and prevent fatal accidents, the Delhi government on Tuesday had banned nylon, plastic and Chinese ‘manjha’ and any other sharp kite-flying strings.