As Mumbai's skyline was studded with kites of different shapes and sizes on Friday, animal welfare activists remained worried that despite several awareness drives and ban, the glass-coated manza – the thread used to fly kites – was seen all over the city.

Sunish Subramanian of PAWS, Mumbai, said, "We saw rampant use of the glass-coated manza. The ban had no effect at all, as the thread was being sold in the market openly. Unless there is strict vigilance by cops and a hefty fine is imposed or a decision is taken to suspend trading license of those selling or stocking the thread, the effective implementation of the ban will not happen." In fact, he informed, PAWS volunteers rescued a couple of pigeons trapped in manza.

Shakuntala Majumdar, convenor of the Bombay High Court-appointed bird committee, said, "This year, due to many last moment issues, we could not carry out raids. But we are drawing an elaborate plan for next year to ensure effective implementation of the ban." She added that the glass-coated manza is extremely dangerous for not only birds, but also humans.

Meanwhile, NGOs rescuing birds from various parts of the city shared that the injured bird count seemed to be lower than last year on this day. "We got around 200 birds, mostly pigeons, kites, crows and koels, from areas such as Borivli, Kandivli and south Mumbai. Many were stuck in the manza while some were severely injured," said Harsh Shah of Bird Helpline, which had organised several camps across Mumbai to raise awareness about the matter.

Shah, however, said the activists were not ready to celebrate the low number of birds being found injured compared to last year, as they felt a lot more people will fly kites during the weekends. "The effect of kite festival can be seen for weeks and months, as the manza stuck at different places ends up injuring birds. Hence, our work will continue," he said, adding that while the awareness created seemed to have worked to some extent, the glass-coated manza issue needs to be tackled immediately.