After Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel asked Delhi Government to probe and stop the use of illegal Chinese manjha, the Government on Tuesday directed all the schools situated in the national Capital to stop students from using Chinese manjha and educate them about the harms caused by the threads to both birds and humans.
Chinese manjha is a thread coated with metal and glass particles and is used to fly kites especially during the festival seasons.
“Flying of kites is a common feature in Delhi. Flying of kites sometimes leads to accidents causing harm and injury to humans, animals and birds. Kite flying becomes lethal and hazardous because of the metal coated string used in flying kites. Often accidents involving kite flying have been reported causing fatal injuries especially during festivals,” the Directorate of Education (DoE) said in a letter to school principals.
Terming it a matter of grave concern, the letter stated that the passion for this among the students should be discouraged by creating awareness about the danger which kite flying can pose to people, animals and birds around.
“It can also interrupt electricity supply after touching high tension lines and overhead metro electric lines. This can be fatal also to the person flying kites,” it added.
As per the DoE officials, the heads of Government run schools, Government aided and private schools have been “directed to sensitise students and staff members during the school assembly about the menace of flying of kites.”
Witnessing a number of incidents of death caused due to the use of illegal Chinese manjha, the Delhi Legislative Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel also on Monday directed the Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev to conduct an enquiry into the illegal use of Chinese ‘manjha’ (glass coated kite string) despite a ban on it in the city.
Qustioning on the use of illegal manjha, the Speaker urged to conduct a full inquiry into the issue. Chief Secretary should ask police to inquire how Chinese ‘manjha’ is being sold and if fine is being imposed (for flouting the ban),” he had said earlier.
A 4-year-old girl had died in East Delhi’s Khajuri Khas area after her throat was slit by the Chinese manjha. The victim Ishika Sharma was with her family on a scooter to a temple trip on Saturday.
It is not the only case, a 28-year-old engineer had died on August 15 at Paschim Vihar in outer Delhi after his throat was slit by the manjha. As per Delhi Police, about three cases of death caused due to these metal coated strings have been registered. While there about 250 cases register in the previous years. The Chinese manjhas are a thread coated with glass which is used to fly kite. The use of such glass coated manjha has been banned by the Apex court.
However, on occasion such as Independence Day the ‘manjha’ is sold at shops across the city. As per the police report, many lives has lost due to the Chinese manjha used to fly kite during these festivals.