Bareilly’s manjha makers welcome ban on Chinese manjha

BAREILLY: After the National Green Tribunal on Wednesday imposed a countrywide ban on nylon, synthetic or glass-coated strings, called the “Chinese manjha”, used for flying kites, cotton kite-string makers in Bareilly welcomed the move. A 6,000 m spool of Indian cotton manjha is priced at Rs 550 while the

Chinese manjha

costs just Rs 150. The cheap but strong nylon, synthetic or glass-coated strings reduced the sale of Bareilly’s manjha by around 70% in the past six years.

Hatkarga Lagudhyog Manjha

and

Patang Kalyan Samiti

said that they will ask police to properly enforce the order here.

NGT on Wednesday banned the sale and use of glass coated thread in the entire country, including Chinese Manjha. The

Manjha Association

will submit a report to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the CPCB will file the report before the NGT.

Manjha makers in Bareilly have heaved a sigh of relief after the order of NGT. “Our local industry has been badly hit in the past six years due to tough competition from nylon, synthetic and Chinese manjha. Sales of the local produce decreased by more than 70% in the past three years,” Mirza Hakib Baig alias Shami, secretary of Hatkarga Lagudhyog Manjha and Patang Kalyan Samiti, told TOI over phone. He was in Delhi to attend the NGT hearing. He added that a majority of kite strings manufactured in Bareilly is of cotton mixed with rice and stone powder while only few make glass-coated cotton strings.

As Chinese strings flooded the market and their demand rose, many artisans involved in the manufacture of manjha in Bareilly were forced to take up odd jobs. No survey has been done, but according to estimates, nearly 10,000 artisans in Bareilly are involved in making manjha while around 50,000 people work in the kite industry here. There were more than one lakh people associated with this industry six years ago.

“We will give the copy of the order to police and request them to properly enforce it across the country. Once the order is implemented, the demand for our strings will increase and artisans can come back to manufacture manjha,” said Baig.

An artisan at Bakarganj, Shakir Mansoori, said, “Though Chinese manjha is banned in Bareilly, it is easily available in a few parts of the city. We are hopeful that things will change here after the NGT order.”

“Chinese manjha is fatal for humans and animals. There have been many cases in which people sustained injuries or lost their lives after they got entangled in nylon strings,” Mansoori added.

Prominent businessman dealing in kite strings, Inam Ali, said, “As nylon or synthetic kite string is stronger than the cotton one, people do not need to purchase more than one spool. Hence, people prefer Chinese manjha over cotton manjha.” He added that there are a few factories in India which manufacture nylon kite strings and the ban should also be imposed on them.