Boycott Chinese manjha, let’s shout from our rooftops this Sankrant

There are several kinds of sharp thread available at kite shops of Jaipur. These come from various parts, while the ‘Bareilly’ thread lives up to its reputation, the Chinese Manjha is off shelves after being banned by the government. On an average, about 300 rolls of the sharp threads, mostly, smeared with glass pieces or sharp metallic objects, have been sold off from one city-based kite shop this festive season.

According to the kite sellers, each roll has, on an average, about 1000 meters of sharp thread used for kite flying. Resulting in consumption of more than 3 lakh meters of sharp thread this year. It is to be noted that about five inches of these strings can lead to a deep injury or, in most cases, a death of an animal or a bird. The government has banned the use of Chinese Manja in order to protect animals and birds.

“These are not exactly Chinese strings. They are plastic or synthetic strings which are manufactured in Ghaziabad. They are preferred over cotton strings as they last longer in the skies,” said Irfan Ahmed, owner of a Kishanpole-based kite shop. While glass or metallic materials are preferred to make Manjha, there are several alternatives being accepted nowadays, Ahmed added.

“There are other materials used to make Manja like Loban, and various Indian herbs. Rice starch is the most commonly used bonding material. The starch is dried before being applied to the cotton thread,” Ahmed informed. However, the consumers, in general, prefer glass-coated strings to celebrate the festival. Glass-coated strings provide the consumers a plus point during kite fights, but, proves to be fatal for the birds crossing-by.

“We fly Kites for about 12 hours on Sankranti. While the small kids of the family use regular cotton threads, the adults prefer Bareilly Manjha specially made out of glass. We buy 8 to 12 rolls at a stretch which can be used for next few years,” said Ashish Sharma, student.

Jaipur collector, Siddharth Mahajan, has also given directions according to which residents are not allowed to fly kites from 6 am to 8 am, and from 5 pm to 7 pm till January 31, 2018. Further, those using Chinese or metallic strings will be fined Rs 1,000 or will be taken into judicial custody for six months.

Not only necks, Manjha may cut power too

The Chinese Manjha is not only unsafe for the people in general but also has the capacity to disrupt power supply in the city. It has mental component and when it gets entangled with the electricity wires, it may cause current and power fault also.

Moreover, this Manjha is made of nylon thread, the one which everybody used previously was made with cotton thread and was therefore considered safer. All these materials along with other sharp materials in the Chinese Manjha make it a good conductor of electricity.

“From the point of view of discom and safety of the people, they should stay away from Chinese thread,” said Ajeet Saxena, superintendent engineer of Jaipur Discom city circle speaking to DNA.

As such as the days of Makar Sankranti are coming near, there is a probability of a high number of power faults due to kite flying. The normal thread itself causes power faults and use of Chinese Manjha may only increase the workload of Jaipur Discom.