From now on, children in the city may think twice before using the banned Chinese strings to fly kites as it could invite police action. An 11-year-old boy of Paras Ram Nagar had some anxious moments after seeing a PCR team at his doorstep on Sunday.
Acting on information, PCR team caught the boy red-handed flying kite with a Chinese string. The administration has imposed Section 144 of CrPC on the use or sale of the Chinese string. Assistant sub-inspector Manjit Singh said the PCR team got the information that someone was flying a kite with the Chinese string at the Paras Ram Nagar locality. "The PCR team reached the spot and found the boy flying a kite with the banned string. His father told the PCR team that the boy had not purchased the string from market. The family added that he got the string from a snapped kite," said Manjit Singh.

The PCR team closed the matter after asking the family not to allow the child to use Chinese string. The incident must have brought awareness regarding the ban on Chinese strings.

Why Chinese string is dangerous
A Chinese string becomes razor sharp after it is stretched. It could leads to serious injuries in eye, head, hand and neck. The Chinese string is more expensive than its Indian counterpart, but is very popular among children. The reason being that it can easily snap the Indian string while flying a kite.

The Chinese string can also cause damage to electricity supply system. The string contains metallic substances and in some cases is made of a thin metallic wire. When this metal-coated string comes in contact with a live overhead wire, it could cause tripping and result in blackout in the area.

Apart from other concerns, the authorities concerned feel that the Chinese string also acts as a good conductor of electricity and "can trigger blasts". Not only the electrical equipment gets damaged, there is also a risk to life in flying a kite with a Chinese string. If the string that gets entangled in a live overhead electricity wire is metal coated, it can lead to electrocution of the kite-flyer.

Three arrested for selling Chinese string
The police have arrested three people from different parts of the city during the past 24 hours for selling the banned Chinese string. In first case, police arrested Ashwani Kumar from the Matta Rani Street and recovered a Chinese string from his possession. In other case, two people, identified as Paras and Sachive Bansal were arrested from near Mehna Chowk, Bathinda. They were booked and later released on bail.