LAHORE, Dec 19: Banks have shown willingness to advance loans up to Rs500,000 to persons related to kite production and trade without collateral against personal surety.

This was stated by District Nazim Mian Amer Mahmood while talking to a delegation of kite dealers at the Jinnah Hall here on Monday.

He said the volume of their business was bound to shrink even in the event of lifting of ban on kite flying for a limited period and they would have to explore alternative venues of employment.

The district nazim said that the city district government had convinced the banks to offer soft-term loans to them in the light of the Supreme Court direction.

He said that he had been identifying the dangerous tendency of using metal wire and chemical thread for kite flying and calling for desisting from the practice for a long time before the imposition of the Supreme Court ban.

Scores of people had lost their lives and sustained injuries and smooth functioning of the industry had been made impossible due to use of metal wire and chemical thread for kite flying.

He said that a ban had been necessitated on the flying of kites because of continuous use of prohibited wire and thread and its continuation for the whole of the year instead of winter on the past pattern.

As many as 31 people had lost their lives owing to slitting of throat by chemical thread during the first six months of 2003. He said the permanent ban on kite flying was the only solution to the problem.

The delegation of kite traders included Khwaja Basharat Husain, Farasat Ali Butt, Shaikh Saleem, Mian Abdul Waheed, Khwaja Nadeem, Malik Shafi and Mian Akram.

FIREWORKS: District Nazim Mian Amer Mahmood on Monday directed EDO (Law) Awais Ghani to finalize proposals for regulating the manufacture and trade of fireworks in the city by Jan 1 for approval of the district council.