Chinese manja claims life of an former Army personnel on Kalyani expressway

Today during the ongoing Vishwakarma Puja celebrations all over, a tragedy struck the Kalyani Expressway in a heart-wrenching instant that has left the Barrackpore community reeling. A former army personnel, cruising on his motorcycle along the bustling highway, met a gruesome end when a rogue Chinese manja— the razor-sharp kite string notorious for its lethal edge—snagged around his neck, slicing deep into his throat in a flash. The incident, unfolding around noon on Wednesday, September 17, 2025, turned a routine ride into a fatal mishap, with the rider losing control and crashing as blood poured from the gash.

Local passersby rushed to his aid, ferrying him to a nearby hospital where doctors could only pronounce him dead on arrival. This isn't just a freak accident; it's a stark reminder of the silent killer lurking in festive skies, where joyrides on two-wheelers collide with airborne dangers, claiming lives in the blink of an eye.The victim, identified through police sources as a retired serviceman in his mid-50s hailing from the Barrackpore area, was simply navigating the expressway's familiar lanes when disaster unfolded.

Eyewitnesses described the scene as chaotic: the motorcycle weaving erratically before toppling, the rider clutching his neck in agony as the manja's embedded glass particles did their deadly work. "He was going steady, maybe heading home for Puja festivities, when suddenly he gasped and veered off," recounted a truck driver who stopped to help. The string, likely discarded from nearby kite-flying revelry, had stretched invisibly across the road like a guillotine wire, catching the unsuspecting commuter at full throttle. By the time locals pulled him from the wreckage and sped toward medical care, it was too late—the severing had been swift and merciless.Barrackpore police swiftly cordoned off the stretch near the incident site, launching an investigation into the manja's origin while recovering fragments of the deadly thread from the scene. Initial probes suggest the string may have drifted from adjacent fields or rooftops, where Vishwakarma Puja enthusiasts were flying kites in homage to the divine engineer.

The force has appealed for witnesses and is examining CCTV footage from nearby toll plazas, emphasizing that such manja, banned yet brazenly used, poses an escalating threat on high-speed corridors like the Kalyani Expressway. "We're treating this as a preventable homicide by negligence," a senior officer stated, underscoring the need for stricter enforcement during festival seasons when skies fill with festive flights.This heartbreaking episode echoes a chilling pattern across Kolkata and its suburbs, where Chinese manja has turned joyous occasions into graveyards.

Just last year, multiple bikers suffered grievous injuries on the Howrah's Vidyasagar Setu flyover, with cuts to necks, faces, and limbs sending dozens to emergency wards. Reports from traffic police highlight over 50 such incidents annually, often dismissed as "kite accidents" until they claim a life like this one. Advocacy groups have long clamored for nationwide bans on the abrasive strings, pointing to their role in not just human tragedies but also animal entanglements and aerial hazards for birds. Yet, enforcement remains patchy, with underground markets thriving ahead of Durga Puja, leaving riders like this veteran exposed to invisible nooses.As the sun set on Vishwakarma Puja, the victim's family gathered at the morgue, their grief compounded by the irony of losing a man who once defended the nation to a child's plaything gone rogue. Tributes poured in from fellow ex-servicemen, who remembered him as a disciplined soul now felled by urban oversight.

As Puja season ramps up, authorities face mounting pressure to act, lest more families mourn mid-festivity. For now, the Kalyani Expressway bears a somber scar, a testament to how a thread of tradition can unravel lives in an instant. Riders everywhere are left pondering: in a city of contrasts, where devotion dances with danger, how many more warnings before the skies are truly safe?