Hyderabad: A day after National Green Tribunal banned synthetic kite strings or manja, kite traders say they have started looking for other professions as their business would slump from this point.
“I run a sugarcane juice stall because I have to feed my family. This business had always been seasonal and risky but the onslaught of ban and demonetisation coupled with GST has left us clueless” said Mr Moham-med Riyaz. Kite traders had faced the first business setback when Chinese manjas came to the market 15 years ago. “We have been making traditional manjas with cotton thread for three generations. When the Chinese manjas came, we had to switch over because no customer wanted the old kind. The Chinese threads are more durable,” he said.
Matters turned worse after the preliminary ban in December last year, when police and forest officials seized Chinese manja, costing traders like Mr Riyaz over Rs 4 lakh. “October to February is the peak time, but first there was a note crunch and then these raids left us nowhere,” he said.
Abdul Azim, a trader near Dabeerpura, faced a similar problem. “The police headed straight to our shops because we have been in this business for over 100 years. They seized the material and made arrests. Why would we want to suffer a similar insult,” he said. Mr Azim has started an electrical and sanitary fitments shop.
The traders said they had never traded in Chinese material. “We know they are dangerous as our children get hurt too. But why isn’t the government going after manufacturers in Noida and Delhi? Even if we stop procuring them, people will buy it from other shopkeepers illegally,” said Mr Azim. The city gets majority of its kite supply from Dhoolpet, Begum Bazar and Uppal.
The traders hope that customers make the change. “Kite flying is a dying passion. This ban on Chinese manja shouldn’t kill it further. All we hope is people switch to cotton threads and continue to reach for the skies,” says Azim.
