Mangaluru: Animal activist “Mr Rescuer” Tauseef Ahmed, on Thursday, January 16, submitted a memorandum to district Deputy Commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh, requesting her not permit the use of ‘manjha’ during the kite festival tomorrow.
As part of the ongoing Karavali Utsav in the city, a kite festival has been organised, where people from all over the world will come to the city to take part in the event.
Manjha is a nylon thread coated with powdered glass, which makes that thread strong and very sharp. While this practice prevents the threads from getting cut, they result in the deaths of hundreds and thousands of birds during the kite flying season.
“Manjha has been banned by the National Green Tribunal in 2017, yet continues to be used illegally. Today’s request letter addresses the issues caused and have asked mam to uphold NGTs decision strictly in the coastal district as well.
“The international kite festival lasts for 3 days and thousands of people participate in it. A kind request is to please use cotton threads and avoid Manjha cos a days fun for us becomes a lifetimes punishment for the poor birds who either are decapitated or die a slow painful death,[sic]” the activist said in a Facebook post.
Speaking to Newskarnataka.com, Tauseef said, “The DC said that she will talk to the kite festival organisers about this.”
“Manjha is banned. Selling and buying of manjha is a crime as it is a banned item. Those who buy manjha are not just doing something wrong, but are also involved in illegal activities, which is against the law,” he said.
He then said that if people stop buying manjha and use only cotton threads, there will be no need for the authorities to get involved. “It is very simple, the supply of anything illegal will continue only if there is demand. We should use cotton threads like we used to when we were growing up,” he added.
