Legal dor for Basant 2027

19 September 2026 · 4 min read · Written in Lahore

If you read one page on this site before Basant, make it this one. Dor is the reason the festival was banned for twenty years and the reason it now operates under licence. The rules are short, specific, and enforced with prison terms.

What is legal

Under the rules notified for the Punjab Regulation of Kite Flying framework, lawful kite line must be:

• Cotton. Not nylon, not metallic, not coated.
• Maximum 9 tar. Tar is the number of threads twisted together. Nine is the ceiling.
• Minimum 28 count. Count measures the fineness of the yarn; below 28 is not permitted.
• Wound as a pinna — a ball — carrying a QR code that ties it to a registered manufacturer.

The QR code is the verification mechanism. Legal dor is traceable to a licensed maker who produced it at an approved address and uploaded the production to the Basant Festival 2027 portal. Line without one has no lawful provenance.

What is banned

• Metallic wire — the material that caused electrocutions and grid faults.
• Nylon cord — does not break, so it cuts whatever it meets.
• Chemical-coated string.
• Glass-coated maanja — traditionally powdered glass bound with rice paste and gum.
• Any sharp-coated line, however described.
• Charkhi — the reel itself is prohibited. Dor must be sold and used in pinna form.

The stated position for 2027 is zero tolerance on chemical-coated string and metallic wire.

Why charkhi are banned

This one surprises people, because a reel seems harmless and is the obvious way to store a long line. Two reasons sit behind it.

A charkhi lets a flyer pay out and recover line very fast, which makes aggressive cutting easier and makes long, low lines across streets more likely. And a pinna is the format the QR-code system is built around — a ball of traceable line from a registered maker, rather than an unmarked reel wound with whatever the owner had. Pinna are priced by piece count and tar, which the rate lists reflect.

The penalties

These are not administrative fines.

The offences are cognizable and non-bailable. Officers of sub-inspector rank and above may arrest without warrant, search and seize. Punjab Police enforcement runs well before the festival — September 2026 saw raids on illegal kite supply in the Harbanspura and Bata Pur areas, with stock seized and arrests made, including a serving constable.

Note that the buyer is not a bystander in a regulated market. Flying it is an offence in its own right.

How to judge dor you are offered

1. Ask what it is made of. The word you want is cotton, offered without hesitation. Evasion, or any answer about cutting performance, ends the conversation.
2. Look for the QR code on the pinna. No code, no purchase.
3. Feel it. Cotton has a specific hand — slightly rough, slightly giving. Coated line feels gritty and stiff; metallic line is unmistakable. Run a short length between gloved fingers.
4. Check the tar count against the 9 ceiling, and ask the count.
5. Look at the winding. Even and tight, no crossed layers. Badly wound dor knots at the worst moment and is the most common avoidable loss on a roof.
6. Be suspicious of unusual cheapness. It is almost never efficiency.

What else you need

Gloves. Cotton at speed opens fingers, and this is the most common injury on any roof. Not optional at any size, and mandatory in practice above 1 tawa.

Tape for repairs. A first-aid kit — required under the rooftop SOPs, not merely advisable. Rescue 1122 is the emergency number.

For the handling side, the flying guide covers gloves, line management and pech without getting anyone cut.

Buying it

Only registered sellers may supply dor, and the seller category opens separately from manufacturing. How to check a seller is registered, and what an online listing should tell you. Everything we supply is plain cotton dor on QR-coded pinnay — see the packs.