Gujarat government cuts Chinese manja ahead of Uttarayan

Gujarat government's forest and environment department has woken up early this year to the threat of the deadly Chinese manja and the fatal damage it cause to the birds in the sky.

A notification seeking complete ban on Chinese and any kind of plastic threads to fly kites has been imposed in the state. Taking the safety of birds very seriously this time, foresters have also requested citizens not to fly kites close to dawn and dusk as that is the time when they fly in and out of their nests the most.

"The ban on any kind of plastic manja will be imposed very strictly this time. Those found violating it will be booked. Keeping in mind birds' feeding and nesting habits, we have requested people to refrain from flying kites between 5-7 in the evening and 6-8 in the morning," principal secretary forest and environment, SK Nanda said.

Sources added that steps to spread awareness about the damage manja causes to the birds will be spelt out in the days to come, through which it is hoped people will not fly kites at dawn and dusk when the birds fly out the most.

Chinese manja splits the body of the bird and often causes permanent damage to the creatures.

Last year, the notification was announced just days before the Uttarayan festival in mid-January and it was difficult to implement it as sellers had already stocked up the Chinese manja.

Moreover, there was no monitoring mechanism put in place by the government authorities to check the use of the banned manja.

This time however, authorities are more alert. It is still feared, though, that those manja sellers whose material is left over from the previous year may put in the market the banned products to avoid business losses.