‘Shun manja this Uttarayan for the safety of birds’

“The use of manja threads — made of plastic or synthetic material — during the kite festival,causes injury to birds and humans. It is our duty to protect the birds,including vultures,which are on the verge of extinction,” Nanda said in his statement on Saturday.

He requested the people to avoid flying kites at dawn and dusk as the birds are present in large numbers in the sky at these hours.

He said the state government has set up collection centres for treating the injured birds with the help of voluntary organisations and NGOs. A helpline has also been started for the people to provide the centres with inform about any bird injury during the kite festival,Nanda said.

Manja twines are made by coating threads with a mixture of glue,fine powdered glass and synthetic colour for flying fighter kites.

‘Makarsankranti’ or ‘Uttarayan’ falls on the 14th of this month.

Trail of blood

Last year’s kite flying frenzy on Uttarayan and the day after had left at least 106 birds injured and about 20 dead in Vadodara. These included a large number of pigeons,lapwings,egrets,bats and kites.

The manja twines had also decapitated several vultures and about half a dozen migratory birds,killing them instantly,apart from dozens of pigeons and other birds in Ahmedabad.

It was similar with other cities in Gujarat too,despite appeals from various public groups.

-ENS