Banned kite-flying manjha leaves 700 birds injured in Delhi

The dangers of Chinese manjha was once again displayed by the number of birds that arrived at some of the hospitals and rescue centres after being injured by the sharp threads during kite flying on and around Independence Day.

Delhi government might have banned the use of Chinese manjha in 2017, but the embargo has had little to no impact on the ground.

The Charity Bird Hospital at Chandni Chowk, one of the oldest bird hospitals in the city, received more than 700 such cases between August 13 and August 15. Out of this more than 200 could not be saved. Image used for representational purpose only. (Arun Sharma/HT PHOTO)

The dangers of Chinese manjha was once again displayed by the number of birds that arrived at some of the hospitals and rescue centres after being injured by the sharp threads during kite flying on and around Independence Day.

The Charity Bird Hospital at Chandni Chowk, one of the oldest bird hospitals in the city, received more than 700 such cases between August 13 and August 15. Out of this more than 200 could not be saved.

“We received around 750 injured birds, out of which more than 700 were injured by either Chinese manjha or manjha laced with glass and metals. Around 20–25 birds had other kinds of injuries. More than 200 the birds injured by manjhas died because they had grievous injuries,” said Sunil Jain, honorary manager of the Charity Birds Hospital.

Chinese manjha was banned in the national capital by the government on January 10, 2017. The notification put a ban on sale, production, storage, supply, import and use of kite flying thread made out of nylon, plastic or any other synthetic material — including ‘Chinese manjha’ and any other kite flying thread that is sharp and laced with glass and metals.

At other places such as the Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Centre, the authorities received around 30 such cases on Independence Day.

“Usually we receive a total of 10–12 cases every day. On Independence Day, however, we received at least 30 cases in which birds were injured by manjha only,” said Ambika Shukla, trustee of Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Centre.

The pressure of work was such that the Jain hospital, which has two veterinarians and two compounders working in shifts, had to cancel the shift duties and ensure that at least one of the doctors or compounders were on duty round-the-clock.

“We are still receiving such cases and this will go up till Janmashtami. This happens every year, but this year the number of cases was higher. In 2018, we received around 550 cases between Aug 13 and Aug 15.

Hospital authorities said that in some cases the manjha had cut the birds so deeply that the string could not be removed even after surgery.

“The maximum number of birds that were brought in were pigeons and eagles. Even though kite flying is a day time activity, nocturnal birds such as owls were also injured. These birds might have got injured after it got entangled with a manjha hanging from an overhead wire or a tree,” said Jain.

The Delhi government’s notification says that while officials from the revenue department, forest department, Delhi Police and civic bodies would implement the ban, the chairman and member secretary of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee and sub-divisional magistrates are authorized to file complaints on the basis of reports filed by officers of the revenue department, police and civic bodies.

Experts and activists, however, said that apart from seizure of a few hundred kilos of such manjha, the authorities have failed to implement the ban.

“Unless the authorities crack down on manufacturers or stop the import of such items, it won’t stop. We have to break the trade chain. Seizing some banned items from a few shops or lodging a few FIRs against some citizens won’t help,” said Gauri Maulekhi, trustee of People for Animals.