Flying kites near railway tracks is fraught with risk: SCR advisory

Railway officials warn of electrocution risk as manja is a good conductor of electricity

Hyderabad: The SCR has advised citizens against flying kites near railway stations or tracks which have live electric wires running overhead and could cause harm to their lives.

To prevent any untoward incident from happening, while flying kites along the railway tracks, the Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) have taken up awareness programmes on the premises.

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“Children and youngsters tend to fly kites from nearby residential colonies and at some places come on the railway tracks to fly them, which could prove fatal,” said an SCR official adding that it could become worse when they snip another kite and then chase to get it in their hands.

Railway officials warn about the hazards of flying kites near the tracks, and dangers associated with retrieving kites from Over Head Equipment (OHE) cables that supply about 25,000 volts of electricity. Chinese-imported kite threads (manja), commonly used by the public, are a good conductor of electricity. They pose a significant threat to both humans and critical railway electrical infrastructure.

“There are chances of children getting run over by a passing train or getting electrocuted when they try to pull manja hanging from the cable,” said another RPF officer.

SCR officials requested parents to keep an eye on their children and prevent them from flying kites near tracks. They urged to report sightings of manja hanging from overhead electric cables.