Mumbai: The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court has expressed displeasure over the Maharashtra government’s inaction in to form a law or policy to curb the menace on synthetic thread / nylon manja being used for flying kites. In view of the upcoming Makar Sankranti festival, the court has directed the police and the civic bodies to take strict action against the use of nylon manja.

The court deprecated the State’s indifference with regard to framing of the policy or law to curb the menace. It said: “Independently, in spite of our directions on the last date, the learned Government Pleader is unable to inform us about the State Government’s stand in the matter of policy decision and the law to curb this menace as has been done by 14 other States. This is unbecoming of the State. In Spite of the fact that few other States have already done that, indifference of the State regarding the issue is deprecated.”

A bench of Justices Mangesh Patil and Prafulla Khubalkar, on January 9, directed the authorities under its jurisdiction to be ‘alert’ and ‘on guard’ for at least a month so that “use of Nylon Manja can be averted”.

The court has also asked the authorities to keep establishments engaged in selling kites and manjas under vigil and take appropriate actions, in accordance with law, against those supplying, selling, and even using nylon strings.

The bench has asked the police and civic authorities to maintain a record of the steps taken during the said period and asked them to submit compliance reports on the next date of hearing on January 16.

The HC had taken suo motu (on its own) cognisance of the issue following injuries and deaths due to the use of nylon manja.

The State’s advocate submitted a progress report indicating that steps were taken to curb the use of synthetic or nylon manja to fly kites and offences had been registered and combing operations were undertaken. Further, awareness camps were held in educational institutes.

Ironically, the State conceded that while the suppliers of nylon manja had been arrested, the police could not nab the manufacturers.

“This is an unending process. The menace of nylon manja can easily be appreciated as the society has been coming across with the incident of the persons getting injured,” the bench said, adding that it had issued additional directions in the light of the ensuing ‘Makar Sankranti’, which is the auspicious day.