Surat: Two days after Uttarayan, dangling manja, the deadly kite strings, which claimed life of an eight-year-old boy in Jahangirpura, continue to pose dangers at several places in the city, not just for people but birds too. To prevent further accidents, NGOs in the city are urging residents to remove threads dangling from buildings, cables and trees.On Saturday, NGOs rescuing injured birds reported that most calls were now about birds entangled in hanging threads, rather than injuries from falls or collisions. During the three-day period spanning Uttrayan, the majority of calls were for injured birds, but the volunteers are now focussing on entanglements.Janki Jivdaya, an NGO, received 27 rescue calls on Saturday. “Whenever our volunteers go out for rescue, they create awareness among residents to remove the threads, but a lot more work is needed to clear all the deadly manja,” said Bhanu Makwana, a member of the NGO. He added that “it only takes a few minutes for each person to help remove these threads.”Prayas Team Environment (PTE) received 60 calls on the same day. “The number of rescue calls is higher than last year, and most involve hanging threads. This shows that a large number of threads are still left dangling from buildings and cables. If not removed, they can harm birds and, in some cases, humans,” said Darshan Desai, a PTE volunteer.Prayas has also launched a social media awareness campaign to educate residents about the dangers of hanging manja. The majority of rescue calls are coming from the Vesu and Adajan areas, mostly involving high-rise buildings, which makes rescues particularly challenging.Surat district had witnessed a steep rise in trauma-related emergencies on Jan 14 with hospital cases jumping across road accidents, assaults, falls and crush injuries compared to normal daily levels.Overall emergency cases in the district also climbed significantly, from a normal level of 426 to 567 cases, marking a rise of nearly 33%.
