80 hurt in kite-flying mishaps, Jaipur metro stops 21 times
: At least 80 people were injured over the past 24 hours in kite-flying related accidents here on the occasion of Makar Sankranti, a hospital official said.
According to the official, out of the 80 people injured, 10 have have been admitted to the SMS Hospital for treatment starting Sunday morning.
“The patients include those who fell while flying kites and also those who got injured to glass-coated manjha (abrasive string),” in charge SMS Hospital (Emergency cell) Dr Jagdish Modi said.
With that, many birds were also injured due to manjha threads and were therefore treated by veterinary doctors.
At Pakshi Chikitsalaya, an NGO in Malviya Nagar area, nearly 1100 birds including eagle, cuckoo, crow, pigeon were treated. “We had set up 32 camps across the city for the birds injured due to manjha used in kite-flying. From January 13 to 15, we received nearly 1100 injured birds at the Chitiksalya and the figure is likely to rise.
“On Makar Sankranti alone, 742 birds with injuries were treated,” director of Pakshi Chikitsalya, Kamal Lochan said.
He added that of the total
JAIPUR
injured birds, nearly 200 birds succumbed to their injuries.
Another NGO Raksha that works for animal welfare and their rights said they treated nearly 460 injured birds from January 12 to 15. “On January 14, 250 injured birds were treated. Of the total 460 birds, 8 to 10 per cent died,” director of Raksha, Rohit Gangwal said.
CHINESE AND METALLIC KITE STRINGS STOPS METRO 21 TIMES
The Jaipur Metro rail operations were hindered on Sunday due to Chinese and metallic kite strings. The 9-km long metro route from Mansarovar to Chandpol runs on a 25,000 volt power line.
These power lines are round 30 m above the metro route. Due to kite flying, the metro rail stopped 21 times as the power line kept tripping on Sunday, while people celebrated Makar Sakranti.
Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation, director (operations) CS Jinger said from January 5 to January 14, the rail stopped 21 times from 20 to 40 seconds. In addition nine trains have also suffered damages.
He said to ensure smooth operations, around 2000 kites were removed. He added that the metro staff went to around 1,500 houses on both side of the corridor, distributed pamphlets to create awareness to avoid kite flying on the metro route.