Sale of glass-coated cotton manja should be prohibited: Bird lovers

Mumbai: Ahead of Makar Sankranti, the sale of manja is skyrocketing like previous years. While nylon kite strings or Chinese manja was hardly seen in the market owing to the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) ban, glass-coated cotton thread is still being sold in Mumbai.

Bird lovers have said that glass-coated cotton manja should also be discarded, as it is a threat to both birds and humans. “Birds get trapped in glass-coated cotton strings that are hanging from trees or lying in other areas after the kite festival. They remain there throughout the year, entangled birds; the more they try to fly away, the more it injures them,” said Sunish Subramanian, wildlife welfare warden, Mumbai.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has also raised concerns over glass-coated cotton thread and said that the city should follow the example of Delhi, where only regular cotton thread is used as manja.  “Sharp glass pieces have proven dangerous to humans and animals as it can cut through skin. Glass also takes decades to degrade or may not even degrade at all,” said Nikunj Sharma, public policy lead, PETA.

The NGT had banned Chinese manjha in the country in July 2017, omitting glass-coated threads. PETA had later moved the apex court seeking a ban on glass-coated manjha, and the matter will be again heard on Friday.

The Mumbai police issued a circular on Tuesday stipulating that the use, sale and storage of pucca threads, also known as nylon manja made of plastic of any synthetic materials, is prohibited in Mumbai.