With the kite flying fervour setting in ahead of the two-day festivities of Uttarayan on January 14 and 15, Gujarat police has begun its crackdown on the banned kite strings — Chinese and glass-coated — as well as a sustained awareness campaign to encourage two-wheeler riders to install the protective kite string guards to prevent fatal injuries caused by loose kite strings that cannot be spotted in speed. Nearly 100 cases were lodged in the cities of Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Vadodara and Surat since November, following the crackdown.
The police action follows a January 2025 directive of the Gujarat High Court to the state to take “strict action” and act against the production, sale and use of glass-coated strings that pose a risk of fatal injuries to humans, birds and animals.
The directive had come following hearings in a PIL, during which the division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Pranav Trivedi had perused an affidavit filed by the Home Department stating that the notification prohibiting the sale, and use of Chinese, nylon, or plastic-coated cords had already been issued. The HC clarified that all “synthetic and glass-coated strings” are to be prohibited. Earlier, the National Green Tribunal (NGT), had, in 2017 banned kite flying strings made of nylon or any synthetic material throughout the country.
Ahmedabad
The Ahmedabad City Police, between November 18, 2025, and January 6, 2026, filed 55 cases across Ahmedabad, booking 63 persons. The cases, carried out by local police stations in their own jurisdictions, led to the seizure of 7,683 spools and 576 firkis of Chinese manjha worth Rs 20.53 lakh, said ACP JS Gedam.
A statement from Ahmedabad City Police said, “Using Chinese string/nylon string is a crime and extremely dangerous for humans as well as animals and birds. All citizens are requested not to use such dangerous strings. Uttarayan is a festival of joy, so celebrate the festival with compassion for animals and birds. Flying kites in the early morning or late evening when bird movement is high should be avoided. Drive vehicles with all kinds of safety (helmet, neck brace, safety rope) and enjoy the festival safely.” In Ahmedabad, the District Education Officer (DEO) on Tuesday issued a circular for all schools to take a pledge against use of Chinese kite strings and paper lanterns (tukkal). Directing all principals to take necessary steps to make children and parents of their respective schools aware of the dangers and legal provisions of the use of Chinese kite strings and tukkal, the Ahmedabad (City) District Education Officer RM Chaudhary Tuesday asked all schools to organise a pledge-taking on January 7 to teach students not to use and store Chinese strings and tukkal.
“On the occasion of the upcoming Makar Sankranti, I will not fly kites in the early morning and late evening (when the presence of birds is higher in the sky), so that innocent birds are not injured. I will never use deadly Chinese strings or glass-coated manjha, which are dangerous to birds and humans. I will always be careful while flying kites on the roof and will never run after a kite on the road. After the festival is over, I will clean up the remains of strings and from the roof and road so that no animals, birds and creatures get trapped in them. If I see any injured birds, I will immediately inform the elders or contact the bird helpline,” the sample pledge attached with the circular stated.
Vadodara
Between December 20, 2025 and January 4, 2026, the Vadodara city police lodged 32 FIRs, arrested 32 accused persons and seized prohibited items such as chinese lanterns and kite strings worth Rs 7.8 lakh, including 108 grams of glass powder meant for coating the strings. Of these, Wadi police station — which has the maximum kite making workshops in its jurisdiction — recorded the maximum seizure amounting to Rs 7.28 lakhs while Akota police station seized the highest volume of glass powder at 51 kg.
Vadodara city Commissioner of Police Narasimha Komar told The Indian Express the directive of the HC was being implemented in its spirit, including the awareness campaign. “We have begun the drive to seize the prohibited items. This comes after we first held a meeting with the manufacturers of kites and kite strings and communicated the prohibitory orders to them in advance, so as to give them time to shift from the prohibited items,” Komar said.
Apart from the crackdown, Komar said police have distributed free kite string guards for two wheelers and launched an awareness campaign including social media messages and at traffic junctions to sensitise people and disseminate information about the prohibitory orders.
Surat
In the crackdown so far, the Surat Special Operations Group (SOG) seized kite string raw material worth Rs 2.18 crore in a single raid at a company named Angel Monofilament while various police stations in Surat city have booked nine cases and arrested 12 persons, seizing materials worth Rs 1.03 lakh.
Rajkot city
The Rajkot City Police, between December 11, 2025 and January 6, 2026, registered 11 cases in eight police stations, under BNS section 223 for violation of an order promulgated by a public servant as well as for storage and sale of Chinese manjha. It seized 85 firkis worth Rs 26,700, according to data shared by DCP (Crime and SOG) Jagdish Bangarwa. The Rajkot City Police also conducted five awareness programmes with traders in the jurisdiction of five police stations, asking them to avoid the storage and sale of Chinese manjha, tukkals and glass-coated threads.
‘Largest’ seizure in state
The largest seizure of Chinese manjha and related items before Uttarayan was conducted by the Ahmedabad Rural Police in December 2025. This was a bust of a full scale manufacture and sale operation running across multiple districts in Gujarat and a Union Territory, leading to a seizure to the tune of Rs 2.3 crore. The Special Operations Group (SOG) first seized 39 boxes with 1,872 reels of Chinese manjha worth Rs 7.48 lakh from a farmhouse in Sanand, and from there, went on to 3,864 firkis of manjha worth Rs 12.91 lakh from a cotton pressing factory in Bavla. Developing further links from these seizures, the SOG then apprehended a car transporting 2,400 firkis of manjha and other items worth Rs 12.15 lakh near Vataman Chowkdi in the jurisdiction of Koth police station. Their investigation then led them outside their normal area of jurisdiction. The team first reached Anand town where they seized 672 firkis worth Rs 2.01 lakh.
From Anand, the SOG got the name of one Viren Patel, resident of Vapi in Valsad district, who allegedly supplied these banned goods across districts in Gujarat. While trying to locate Patel, the SOG team travelled to the Union Territory district of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, where they raided a factory of Vandana Industries with the help of the local police and administration. They found and seized 43,192 reels of Chinese manjha worth Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 50 lakh worth of machinery involved in the manufacturing process, taking the total seizure to Rs 2 crore. Further small scale seizures were also carried out and, during the entire operation, the SOG of Ahmedabad Rural Police seized 52,000 firkis of Chinese manjha worth Rs 1.82 crore and Rs 52.50 lakh worth of machinery and other goods and vehicles, taking the total seizure to Rs 2.34 crore with the various FIRs being filed across all the jurisdictional police stations. Speaking on this case, PI SN Ramani of the SOG told The Indian Express, “We first seized chinese manjha in Sanand. Our SP Om Prakash Jat asked us to follow the source of the supply and so, from Sanand, we got a link to Kadi in Gandhinagar, but that was just a logistical stop and we didn’t find any banned items in the godown there. But we developed a link to Viren Patel in Vapi and found his factory in Dadra and Nagar Haveli which we had shut with the help of local police and Collector in the union territory. We caught one car transporting goods, and manjha stored in Bavla, Viramgam and Anand, which we seized. Our seizure reached Rs2.3 crore at the end of the investigation.”
Security personnel screen the Vallabh Sadan in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, where PM Narendra Modi & German Chancellor Friedrich Merz are likely to inaugurate the International Kite Festival. (Bhupendra Rana)
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