Chinese manja harmful to birds, to be banned before Sankranti

Hyderabad: Come Sankranti the skyline is dotted by colorful kites and youngsters spirit in high to cut each other kites. But less than a month to celebrate this festival, officials from Telangana Forest Department, Telangana State Biodiversity Board and other organisations protecting animals have urged the state government on Monday for the complete ban of manja which poses threat to birds.

PK Sharma , Prinical Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) at a press conference held on Monday spoke about the serious harm done to the birds while flying kites. He says that Chinese manja is sharp and durable which is made of nylon and coated with glass gets easily cut through the wings of the birds.

Once the festival gets over it is also seen that the birds get trapped in leftover manja which remains on trees, electric poles and rooftops. Considering all these things Mr. Sharma along with other officials have submitted the constitutional and legal provisions to the state government to ban Chinese manja.

Forest department have also appealed public not to buy this manja and gave their tip-line number 1800-425-5364 to report incidents of birds being injured or trapped with manja.

C. Samyukta, wildlife campaign manager for Humane Society International, India, Hyderabad chapter have said that under Environment Protection Act, 1986 Gujarat and Rajasthan have already banned the Chinese manja and appealed Telangana government to bring into effect by the end of December.

The organisations working for the welfare of animals have also appealed the government to ban Chinese manja under the provisions of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and Environment Protection Act, 1986.

The officials further said that kites merchant from old city are also keen on imposing ban as Chinese manja has severely affected their livelihood who work on cotton threads. In comparison to nylon cotton maja has lesser effect on birds while nylon is sharper and injures birds when it comes in contact and it is also non-biodegradable.

Recently, Forest officials along with Blue Cross Hyderabad did an awareness programme at old city to bring awareness among the public about the harm inflicted by nylon manja on birds.