LAHORE: Basant will be allowed in Lahore for three days from March 12 to 14, 2027, Commissioner Lahore Noman Yousaf announced, as the administration began advance preparations to hold what officials describe as the safest edition of the spring kite festival.
Preparatory administrative efforts for a safe Basant have begun, following earlier plans to decorate city roads as kite makers press for early licences, and a meeting in this connection was held with representatives of transporters and courier companies.
The meeting, chaired by Commissioner Lahore Noman Yousaf, was attended by DIG Operations Faisal Kamran, DC Lahore Capt (r) Ali Ijaz, CTO Lahore Abdul Rahim Sherazi, district administrative officers and representatives of MCL, the transport sector and courier companies.
Commissioner Lahore Noman Yousaf said registration of manufacturers for Basant 2027 has already begun, and permits will be mandatory. Only those who obtain an NOC will be able to manufacture kite-flying material.
According to the DC Lahore, more than 2,500 manufacturers have so far uploaded applications for permits.
The Commissioner said orders have been issued for strict action against the transportation of illegal kite-flying material and equipment. Transporters and courier companies, he said, will not carry illegal material. Manufacturing, transportation, sale and kite flying will be permitted strictly in line with government directions.
CTO Lahore Abdul Rahim Sherazi said the dates for the manufacturing, transportation and sale of kite-flying material will be formally announced, and that safety rods will be installed on 2.5 million motorcycles in Lahore.
Commissioner Lahore Noman Yousaf said the administration will leave no stone unturned to make Basant the safest festival, adding that the administration, companies and citizens will together play their part in making the Basant festival as safe as possible.
Basant was Lahore’s signature spring event for decades, drawing domestic and foreign visitors to the Walled City’s rooftops and generating substantial seasonal business for hotels, caterers, kite makers and the local string industry. It was banned after a series of fatalities caused by metallic and chemically coated string, stray celebratory gunfire and falls from rooftops.
The regulatory architecture now being built around the festival — licensed manufacturing, controlled distribution windows, courier and transport undertakings, and mass installation of anti-string safety rods on motorcycles — is designed to address precisely those causes. The safety rod, a simple vertical antenna fitted to the handlebar area of a motorcycle, is intended to catch loose string before it reaches a rider’s neck.
The commercial stakes are considerable. A regulated three-day festival gives licensed manufacturers a legal production window for the first time in years, while the NOC requirement is intended to squeeze out the unregulated workshops that produce the banned metallic string associated with most Basant casualties.
Enforcement, however, will be tested in the weeks immediately before the festival, when demand peaks and illegal string historically enters the city through courier consignments and inter-city goods transport — the two channels the administration has now sought written commitments on.
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