CUTTACK: A day after a 31-year-old man died after his throat was slit by a Chinese kite string (manja), the Commissionerate Police raided a shop at Pira Bazaar in Jagatpur and arrested its owner for selling the banned item in the locality.
“A raid was conducted on the shop and huge quantity of glass-coated Chinese kite strings seized. The accused, Sk Ansur has been arrested,” informed Cuttack DCP Prateek Singh. A few children had bought the strings to fly kites in the localities nearby. A dangling glass-coated kite string had got entangled around the victim’s neck and killed him by slitting his throat on Sunday. The shop at Choudhary Bazaar from where Ansur had bought the strings too was raided by the police on the day.
Singh said the police conducted raids on several shops in six markets including Choudhary Bazaar and Nandi Sahi and seized a huge quantity of glass-coated Chinese kite strings. He said such raids would continue in the future to check the sale of such strings. Collector Bhabani Shankar Chayani had directed Cuttack Municipal Corporation and the DCP to strengthen enforcement against the illegal sale and use of the banned kite strings.
However, the raids conducted by the police failed to convince the locals who termed it an eyewash. Lack of enforcement by the administration emboldened people especially youths and children to fly kites in public places across the city flouting the ban. Despite the ban, sale and use of Chinese ‘manja’ string continue unabated in the city. Unrestricted and unsafe kite flying poses a threat not only to human beings but also to animals and birds, said locals.
Though 10 places have been identified as safe by the district administration for flying kites in Millennium City, it is yet carry out enforcement to curb unsafe kite flying on rooftops and public places. The administration should form a special squad and conduct special drives to ensure safe kite flying ahead of Makar Sankranti, locals added.