Manufacture, sale and use of thread of nylon or material with manja banned in Cuttack district

Cuttack: A day before the celebration of Makar Sankranti in Odisha, the Cuttack district administration today imposed a ban on the manufacture, sale, storage and use of thread of nylon or any other material with manja (glass coated).

The district administration said that the ban comes into immediate effect and stringent action will be taken as per the law against anybody who will be found flouting the order.

“In order to protect the lives of birds, animals as well as human beings and in accordance with the instruction issued under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, manufacture, sale, storage and use of thread of nylon or any other material with manja is hereby banned with the district of Cuttack. Action as per law will be taken against anybody flouting this Order,” said a notification issued by the district collector.

“This order will come into force with immediate effect,” it added.

It is to be noted here that the Orissa High Court on Monday directed the Cuttack district collector to impose a ban on the sale and use of manja (glass coated) thread.

While conducting a hearing of two Public Interest Petitions (PILs), the High Court bench comprising Chief Dr. Justice S. Muralidhar and Justice Murahari Sri Raman advised Odisha government to come up with a guideline on the preparation, sale and use of manja by April 3, 2023.

The court also directed the concerned Collectors to take a call on the ban of manja thread in Bhubaneswar & Cuttack during the Hockey World Cup 2023.

There is a tradition of flying kites during the Makar Sankranti in Odisha. However, many people use unsafe kites which cause harm to people, animals and birds. Not only this but there are also instances of people being killed after coming across the manja thread of the kites. Since then several PILs were filed at the court over the ban of such unsafe kite threads.