Overview
- Police Commissioner V. C. Sajjanar announced strict legal action against anyone manufacturing, storing, transporting, or selling the thread, with special teams deployed to enforce the ban.
- Authorities cited four recent Hyderabad cases in which motorcyclists, including constable Shivraj and student Jashwanth Reddy, suffered serious neck wounds, with delivery worker Mohammed Jameel requiring 22 stitches.
- The Telangana Forest Department directed coordinated inspections of shops and godowns, seizures of illegal stock, and liaison with counterparts in Gujarat, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh to disrupt supply from identified hubs.
- The enforcement drive reinforces the state's 2016 prohibition on manja and follows an earlier Cyberabad advisory warning of grave risks to people, birds and animals.
- Police urged citizens to intervene by discouraging use, reporting illegal sales and promoting awareness so kite-flying during Sankranti can be observed safely and humanely.