Call to ban kite flying in Mansehra

MANSEHRA: The people on Sunday demanded the district administration impose a ban on kite flying as dozens of children were injured during its season last year.

“The kite flying has become a dangerous activity since the use of metallic wire, and holding of its events at rooftops and roadsides,” Mohammad Azhar, a local told reporters. A group of locals who belonged to different neighbourhoods in the city and its suburbs demanded a ban on the sale and purchase of kites and their strings to ensure the safety of its young flyers and residents.

“The use of metallic wire as the string to fly kites has also rapidly been increasing here, and if the district administration doesn’t ban its activities here, it might trigger fatal incidents of throat cuts and other natures,” Azhar said.

He said that young boys without caring about safety fly kites at rooftops and other dangerous places which could be proven fatal for them.“In such incidents, dozens of children were injured last year during kite flying season in the city and its suburbs,” Azhar said.

Another local Mohammad Ajmal said that catching astray kites and strings after being cut off in mid-air adventure was also a dangerous phenomenon.“The children who follow cut-off kites and strings on roads and ditches, even on their rooftops without caring about their lives could also fall prey to this dangerous game,” he said.Ajmal said the Punjab government because of the high rate of fatal accidents related to kite flying had already imposed a ban on the dangerous activity.