Nagpur: Taking a serious note over the rampant use of nylon manja despite ban, the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court on Wednesday ordered all the District Collectors in Vidarbha and police heads, to set up special squads for dealing with the menace and initiate stern action against the violators.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Sunil Shukre and Justice Anil Pansare in their directives said that the special squads should comprise responsible officers, who will work in tandem with respective Collectorates and heads of the Police Department. They will ensure that not only awareness is created about the hazards posed by the use of deadly nylon manja or any other synthetic manja for kite flying, but also effective action is taken against the violators as per the ban imposed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on July 11, 2017, the Division Bench said.
The HC judges said that some states have implemented the order after the National Green Tribunal banned the deadly nylon manja. According to an affidavit filed by the State Government before the court, Maharashtra is one of the few states in the country to implement the ban. However, the manja is being imported from abroad and is being widely used and sold, the Amicus Curiae Deven Chauhan pointed out. He lamented that though the Maharashtra Government had complied with NGT’s directives, the compliance is hardly seen at the ground level. He said it is also a common experience that kite flying using synthetic manja is rampant and goes on without any hindrance.
The High Court asked the administration, along with the State Government, what measures were taken to ban the import, sale, use and production of the manja. The court has directed to file a reply in this regard by January 5.
The directives came while hearing a suo motu PIL based media reports on deaths of 23-year-old engineering student Pranay Thakre and 22-year-old Saurabh Patankar this year after their throats were slit by the deadly manja on the roads. The Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) was added as the respondent in the case. The HC adjourned the hearing till January 5.
