Kottayam: There is nothing mysterious about the black stickers seen on the glass panes of windows, say those engaged in the glass business. “The stickers are pasted by glass manufacturers to minimize contact between panes when they are packed for transportation. There is no need to panic over the issue,” said Glass House owner Abraham Mathew supporting the stand of the police.
Glass panes are brought to the southern parts of Kerala mainly from Chennai. Agencies based in the State supply the panes to retailers. The stickers are pasted mostly on panes with designs.
When parcels of glass are stored without opening for a long time, the panes may stick together. In that case, the panes will break if they are separated. The stickers keep the panes apart, preventing this from happening.
Earlier, hay was used to avoid breakage of glass panes. Some glass manufacturers still resort to this method. However, stickers are more common. A few glass makers spray a chemical which also prevents joining of panes.
Even after all these preventive measures, glass may still break. In that case, while replacing the broken panes with fresh panes, traders may paste some extra stickers to avoid recurrence of breakage.
Police, meanwhile, said they had inspected most glass shops in the town to confirm this theory. The probe in this regard is satisfactory, officials added. They blamed the campaigns in the social media for spreading panic among people over the stickers.
The black stickers are no sign of thieves targeting houses or establishments, said police, repeating their earlier stand. Some miscreants are using the stickers to mislead the police as well as the public. No thefts were reported from houses where the stickers appeared. “After comparing the stickers and the glue used to paste them on the houses with the stickers in glass shops it was found that they were similar,” said officials.
Meanwhile, painting workers said they had never noticed the black stickers on glass panes. A worker who has been in the profession for over thirty years said that painting is carried out on buildings only after removing all such stickers or papers.
Read: Kottayam News | Kerala News
