With the Lohri festival just around the corner, the Ludhiana police have initiated a prominent drive against the dangerous and illegal 'Chinese dor' plastic kite string. However, this enforcement action is facing criticism for being delayed, arriving several weeks after the hazardous material had already saturated the city's markets.
Annual Pattern of Delayed Enforcement
Despite recent seizures of thousands of spools by the authorities, the illegal trade, which typically begins as early as October, had already inundated local bazaars. This leaves residents to deal with an urban landscape laced with invisible, razor-sharp threats. A recurring annual cycle is observed: police action gains momentum around the New Year, but the prohibited synthetic string reaches warehouses and transport hubs well before Diwali.
By the time raids commence in January, the product has already moved from large-scale storage facilities into the hands of retailers and consumers. A police official explained the challenge, stating that specific intelligence is required to recover the banned string. Traders have adapted by no longer storing stock in their shops. Instead, they use transporters to bring it in under the pretense of industrial plastic meant for factories.
Failure to Unravel the Supply Chain
Even with a series of significant confiscations, investigators have found it difficult to break the supply network. Key seizures include:
- On December 11: The CIA-1 unit recovered 1,000 spools from a suspect near Chand Cinema. The probe stalled despite a trader in New Madhopuri being named during interrogation.
- On December 26: Police seized 960 spools at Transport Nagar, believed to have been smuggled from other states. The primary suspects managed to escape.
- On January 11: Division Number 5 police recovered 80 spools in the Jawahar Nagar area.
Internal sources acknowledge that establishing 'backward linkages'—tracing sellers back to manufacturers—is rarely achieved. Senior officers point out that with limited manpower focused on narcotics and violent crime, the black market for kite string often becomes a lower priority.
Sinister Tactics and Legal Gaps
The trade has adopted disturbing methods, including the alleged use of minors to find customers. In a recent case reported from Kitchlu Nagar, a man is accused of luring a school student into buying the plastic string. He later extorted 90,000 rupees from the boy by falsely claiming an accomplice had been arrested.
Legal experts have identified a 'soft' judicial approach as another hurdle. Most First Information Reports (FIRs) are filed under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for charges like 'disobedience to orders' and 'endangering life.' While the Wildlife Protection Act could be invoked—making the offense non-bailable due to the thousands of birds killed annually by the string—this charge is rarely included in police filings, creating a significant legal loophole.
As Ludhiana prepares for Lohri, the visible police action contrasts sharply with the invisible, yet pervasive, danger already woven into the city's fabric, highlighting a systemic failure in timely intervention and supply chain disruption.
