An entrepreneur from Bengaluru was seriously injured on Wednesday while riding his two-wheeler after a nylon manja (string used to fly kites) got stuck on his neck. The incident took place on Wednesday at 1.30 pm when 48-year-old Mallikarjun was travelling to a bank on some official work. As he was riding his two-wheeler near the Adugodi Traffic Police Station, Mallikarjun suddenly felt a sharp pain near his neck and within moments, he realised that the pain was caused by a thread that was cutting into his neck. Unable to stop the two-wheeler immediately, he put his left hand on the string and tried to pull it away from his neck, which left deep cuts on two of his fingers.
By the time Mallikarjun stopped the two-wheeler, his neck and fingers were bleeding. Some pedestrians saw him and took him to Sankalpa Nursing Home nearby where he received five stitches on his neck and five more on each of his two fingers. Speaking to TNM, Mallikarjun said that he was very lucky and that he was saved only because he was riding at a low speed. “I was riding at a low speed, so I could react and pull the string. The neck is a very vulnerable spot and if the thread went in any deeper than it did, I probably wouldn’t have survived.”
After the incident, Arun Prasad, who was an MP (Member of Parliament) candidate from Bangalore Central constituency also wrote a letter to the Deputy Conservator of Forests asking for the enforcement of an already existing ban of such nylon manja.
In his letter, Arun Prasad asked for the enforcement of the notification from June 2016 which said, “No person including shopkeeper, vendor, wholesaler, retailer, trader, hawker or salesperson shall procure, stock, sell and use Chinese Manja or Chinese Dor which is made of Nylon thread or other synthetic (non-bio-degradable) threads coated with glass or other harmful substances used for kite flying in the state.” The notification further directed all concerned officials, which includes all forest officers, officers of horticulture wing of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and environment officers to enforce the ban.
Speaking to TNM, Arun Prasad said, “Officials have to conduct raids in places such as the city market where there are massive warehouses where these strings are stored. This is a huge hazard for humans as well as animals and birds.”