Tamil Nadu bans 'Nylon thread coated with glass or Chinese Manjha'
The Tamil Nadu government has issued a complete ban on the manufacture, sale, storage, and use of kite flying threads popularly known as 'manja threads' made out of nylon, plastic, or any other synthetic material, according to a report published by the news agency ANI.
The decision has been taken to prevent injury and even possible fatalities among human beings, animals, and birds during kite flying competitions or otherwise.
In an official statement, Supriya Sahu, additional chief secretary of Environment, Climate Change and Forest Department said, “An order to this effect was issued by the State government on October 6, 2023, which was further notified in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette on October 30."
“It is a fact that during kite flying, a lot of injuries are caused to people and birds on account of pucca thread made out of plastic or similar synthetic material commonly known as manjha thread," the order read.
"These injuries many times turn out to be fatal causing the death of people, animals, and birds. It is, therefore, desirable to protect the people and birds from the fatal effects of the kite thread made out of plastic or synthetic thread, known as manjha," it added.
The order further stated, “During the kite flying several kites get out in the sky as a consequence of kite competition or otherwise, all these cut threads along with the kite remain on the land, because of the very long life plastic material and being non-biodegradable in nature, these continue to be causing problems."
"They cause problems such as blockage of sewers, drainage lines, and natural waterways such as rivers, and streams and also cause suffocation of cows and other animals who eat food items along with such plastic materials. Thus the impact of such plastic materials used for making thread commonly manjha thread are many and varied," it said.
“There shall be a total ban on the manjha or thread for kite flying which is made of nylon or any synthetic material or coated with synthetic substances and is non-biodegradable," the order stated.
It said that whoever fails to comply with the order or directions shall be liable to penalized under the provisions of the Environment (Protections) Act, 1986.
