Cops raid kite shops, seize 'manja'

CUTTACK: Police on Saturday raided shops selling 'manja' strings coated with powdered glass here and seized over 20 kilograms of the 'killer' threads. Police action comes after the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to ban the sale of such threads.
Most kite and thread wholesale shops are in Jhola Sahi and Choudhary Bazaar which fall under the Purighat police limits.
Accordingly, on Makar Sankranti, a crackdown was launched on shops selling kites, threads and related paraphernalia. Senior police officers raided the shops to ensure that the directive is implemented in letter and spirit. "We seized glass coated and nylon strings," said IIC of Purighat police station Tapas Pradhan. Other police stations also conducted similar raids.
On January 18, 2016, a five-year-old girl Swetalina Behera died after her neck was slashed with a sharp 'manja' thread at Telengapentha here. Many other mishaps due to 'manja' thread have also been reported in the city.
Taking note of these bitter incidences, police had announced ban on sale, procurement and storage of 'manja' thread in Cuttack on December 4, 2015. Even license for setting up temporary kite shops was provided on the condition that the trader would not sell the banned items.
The Cuttack administration for the first time had identified 10 open fields in the city for safe kite flying. Earlier, people flying kites on rooftops, on the roadsides and in public places have met with accidents and have been seriously injured.
Residents have claimed that the move has yielded positive results and has reflected in a safer celebration of the Sankranti this time. "This time, use of 'manja' threads have decreased drastically due to efforts of police and administration in our city," said Mayadhar Sahoo, a banker.
However, the directive has affected business of kite traders who look forward to the boom in business on Makar Sankranti. Most have been unable to make sales in the aftermath of the crackdown.
"The business was very poor this time. Youths are not interested to fly kites with plain cotton strings as it reduces their edge in competitions. So we had procured some amount of manja illegally. But police have now seized it," said Kalia Rout, a kite trader who operates in the city.