VIJAYAWADA: Ahead of Sankranti festival, the Forest Department has directed all divisional officers to conduct strict checks on the sale of Chinese manja, the thread used for flying kites.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests N Prateep Kumar said, "As per the 2016 orders of National Green Tribunal (NGT) and Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 procurement, stocking, selling and use of nylon thread, which is commonly known as the Chinese dor which is coated with finely crushed particles of glass has been banned as they are likely to cause injuries and inconvenience to the birds, animals and also humans."
However, even though the ban is in place, one can find a few people selling the Chinese manja. Despite the provision of strict punishments mentioned in the Environment Act, the officials have not fined a single person yet for selling Chinese manja.
While, the sellers say they have not received any such orders of ban from the department, the officials said they would take measures as and when required. "Once we are directed to punish the violators we will do so," said an official.
Meanwhile, the department has sought people’s help to discourage the use of such harmful threads. “"If the people don't buy the banned threads, naturally the sales will come down and eventually the production of such threads will stop. People have to understand that it’s not just the animals and birds that will be in danger but humans' life will be at risk," added Kumar.
Punishment as per Environment Act
Whoever fails to comply with or contravenes any of the provisions of this Act, or the rules made or orders or directions issued thereunder, shall, in respect of each such failure or contravention, be punishable with imprisonment for a team which may extend to five years or with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees, or with both If the failure or contravention referred to in sub-section(1) continues beyond a period of one year after the date of conviction, the offender shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 7 years