Mourning bird-lovers in Surat cremate 'manja' victims

To raise awareness about the killer manja and its harmful impact on birds, a special cremation ceremony for dead birds was organised in Surat on Sunday, where birds killed by kite strings were taken out in procession before their cremation.

Over 20,000 people participated in the unique funeral procession of the 46 birds in a rare initiative by members of the Omkar yuvak mandal and Jeerawala yuvak mandal.

"This is our attempt to make people aware of how deadly kite manja proves for the birds. When people will see the number of dead birds during the yatra, they will realise their folly and hopefully limit flying kites. People are realising this and many  this year celebrated Uttarayan without flying kites," said Dharmin Shah, volunteer of Jeerawala yuvak mandal.

The yatra set off on Sunday afternoon from Adaeshwar Jinalay in Katargam ended at Ashwinikumar shamshan gruh. The birds were kept on a special bamboo platform wrapped up in cloth and decorated with flowers.

Members of the two groups urged people to stop using deadly manjas during Uttarayan. Write-ups describing the immense pain for losses of birds were seen during the procession. With Uttarayan coming to an end on Sunday, more than 46 birds fell prey to manja in 72 hours. Pigeons were among the worst hit with crows and owls being the other afflicted species.

More than 820 birds were injured this Uttarayan in Surat. Five NGOs worked round-the-clock  for three days to save the injured birds. A special operation theatre for birds was also started by a local NGO, while a rescue centre was set up to treat kite-hit birds.