Repeated warnings, monitoring and even arrests by city police against flying kites seem to have yielded little results, with kite flying using manja thread remaining rampant in the city. In the latest incident, a police couple suffered injuries after a manja thread slit the husband’s throat in Padi flyover on Sunday evening.
Jayakumar
Chennai:
ayakumar, a traffic constable of Vepery police station, and his wife Maheshwari, a head constable attached to the Central Crime Branch, were returning home on a two-wheeler from a relative’s house in Korattur to get ready for the duty when a manja thread dangling on the Padi flyover slit his neck. He lost balance and the bike skidded, and both fell on the road.
“It took a while for us to comprehend what had happened. I found my husband bleeding from his neck when I tried to lift him,” said Maheshwari.
The couple was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment and was then shifted to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. Jayakumar has stitches in his neck and is unable to speak, while Maheshwari sustained bruises due to the fall.
On information, Villivakkam police registered a case and are searching for the kite flyers. Meanwhile, Villivakkam law and order inspector Rajeesh Babu was transferred to control room as departmental action for being unable to curb kite flying in his jurisdiction.
Though flying kites is banned in the city due to such accidents they caused, the incidents of people getting injured because of manja thread used for flying kites continue to get reported. City police had recently started monitoring flying kites using drones and binoculars.
Sale of kites a big business on Facebook
Though the shops are no longer selling kites, they are easily available and are delivered at doorstep, thanks to the marketplace on Facebook. A simple search for kites of Facebook throws results of hundreds of kite sellers in the city. Most of the accounts are active and responsive, and are ready to deliver at home with cash-on-delivery option. Kites and manja thread are available on Amazon, too, and the city police had written to the firm asking it to not sell them to those ordering from city and its neighbourhood.