RAWALPINDI - Although, the Punjab government had imposed a ban on kite flying across Punjab, ‘Basant’ was celebrated here on Thursday night and Friday in city areas while police in their crackdown against the violators managed to net 145.
The Kite Flying Association (KFA) Rawalpindi had announced to celebrate ‘Basant’ festival in the city areas on Friday.
Flouting the ban, some kite enthusiasts had also celebrated ‘Basant’ in few areas of the city particularly in cantt areas on February 11 as well.
However, the law enforcement agencies had also continued their crackdown against kite flyers and arrested 745 violators besides recovering over 100,000 kites and 2000 kite flying string rolls from their possession during this season.
The local administration had also finalized arrangements in all hospitals in Cantonment and City areas. Doctors and paramedics had been ordered to remain alert these days.
Rawalpindi district police, on the directives of City Police Officer (CPO), Umar Saeed Malik had deployed over 1600 cops in different city areas particularly congested localities to control kite flying and aerial firing on Thursday night and Friday.
Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar had imposed a complete ban on kite flying under the Punjab Prohibition of Kite Flying Ordinance 2001. But, despite the ban, the kite lovers were openly flying kites in different city areas.
According to reports, several kite lovers sustained serious injuries during kite flying on February 11.
Deputy Commissioner (DC), Rawalpindi Tahir Farooq said kite flying was strictly banned throughout the province.
“We are continuously arresting the violators,” he said adding, the police had formed special teams to arrest kite flyers and kite sellers.
According to reports, the kites and chemical strings were being sold in the areas of Pirwadhai, Bangash Colony, Adiala Road, Bakramandi, Tench, Sadiqabad, Araya Mohallah, Dhoke Ratta, Dhok Hassu, Glass Factory Chowk, Mohallah Chah Sultan, Naik Alam, and Bagh Sardaran.
People belonging to different walks of life have appealed to the government to form a proper plan to stop or celebrate ‘Basant’. The government should ban those who use chemical strings, they said.
The youngsters had also urged the government to fix a proper area where the kite flying lovers could celebrate ‘Basant’ with simple string for a day. According to a police spokesman, Rawalpindi district police had launched a crackdown and taking strict action against kite sellers, flyers and those involved in aerial firing while senior police officers including Senior Superintendent of Police, Operations, were monitoring the crackdown. He said the City Police Officer who was also monitoring the crackdown against the violators had directed the officers concerned to utilize all available resources to net the kite flying ban violators. The use of metal string for kite flying results in the loss of human lives therefore, all-out efforts were being made to stop the kite flying, he added. A special awareness campaign was also being run to control the ban violation, he said.
He informed that Punjab Inspector General of Police, Rao Sardar Ali Khan had issued orders to speed up the crackdown against kite flying and aerial firing. Under an awareness campaign, special announcements were also being made in the mosques to prevent kite flying and aerial firing, he said.
He added that parents were also urged to keep an eye on the activities of their children and not allow them to be a part of illegal activities. The people had also been requested to report on '15' against kite flying and aerial firing so that such notorious elements could be immediately rounded up, he added.