Celebration

Basant 2027 Dates: 12 to 14 March in Lahore, Cabinet Approved

Basant 2027 in Lahore is 12 to 14 March, approved by the Punjab cabinet. The dates, the kite flying rules, penalties and how to plan.

Ahmad Nadeem · 24 August 2026 · 19 min read · Updated 2 November 2026

Crowded Lahore rooftops during Basant, with people flying kites and dozens of kites in the sky

Updated 2 November 2026: the Lahore deputy commissioner formally notified Basant for 12 to 14 March 2027 on 23 October, with no-fly zones and kite size rules. Full story on the notification.

Basant 2027 is three days in Lahore, from Friday 12 March to Sunday 14 March 2027. The Lahore deputy commissioner's office issued a notification for these dates on 17 October 2026, with kite flying permitted across the city, and the Punjab cabinet approved them, the Express Tribune reported on 20 October.

It's the third schedule in two months. March was announced first in August, replaced by a ten day 29 January to 7 February plan on 30 September, and is now back for good, approved by the cabinet. The kite flying rulebook came first: it was notified in April 2026, well before any of the dates were set, and none of the changes touch it.

Basant 2027 dates: 12 to 14 March, approved

Friday 12 March to Sunday 14 March 2027, approved by the Punjab cabinet. Here's the short version before the detail:

Dates: Friday 12 to Sunday 14 March 2027.
Basant days: three, Friday 12, Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 March 2027, one weekend.
City: Lahore, with kite flying permitted across the city under the notification.
Issued by: the Lahore deputy commissioner, formally notified on 23 October 2026.
Status: final, approved by the Punjab cabinet and formally notified.
Beyond Lahore: on 21 October 2026 Geo News and Minute Mirror reported, citing unnamed sources, that Punjab plans to allow Basant across the province in the second week of March 2027, with controls on kite and string prices and a new Basant law. This has not been officially notified. Our Basant 2027 outside Lahore guide tracks it.
The catch: kite flying is legal only under the Punjab Regulation of Kite Flying Act, 2025 and the safety rules the Home Department notified in April 2026.
The deadline that matters: rooftops have to meet those rules by the end of December 2026.
The calendar: Ramadan 2027 is expected to begin around 8 February and Eid ul Fitr around 9 or 10 March, both subject to moon sighting, so Basant falls two or three days after Eid.

Basant days 2027: Friday 12, Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 March

Friday 12 March: the festival opens. A working day, as things stand.
Saturday 13 March: festival.
Sunday 14 March: festival, final day.

No Basant public holiday has been announced. If Punjab declares one, it will come by a separate notification.

Basant 2027 date changed: what happened to 29 January to 7 February?

It was dropped. On 18 August 2026, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif announced Basant for 12 to 14 March 2027. On 30 September she approved a revised ten day schedule, 29 January to 7 February 2027 with 5 February off for Kashmir Day, and an earlier version of this page carried those dates. On 17 October the Lahore deputy commissioner's office issued a notification moving Basant back to 12 to 14 March. On 20 October 2026 the Punjab cabinet approved the March dates, the Express Tribune reported.

No official reason has been given for either change. Minute Mirror reported on 4 October, citing unnamed sources, that a March date lets overseas Pakistanis come home once for both Eid and Basant. We cover the new notification and its conditions in our Basant 2027 notification report.

A child carrying a red kite along a brick terrace at Shahi Qila, the Lahore Fort — A child with a kite on a terrace at Shahi Qila, Lahore. Photo by Guilhem Vellut, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

What a March Basant changes

A three day March festival works differently from the ten day winter plan, and a few things are worth knowing before you plan around it.

The Basant 2027 notification: issued and approved

What makes flying a kite on a given day legal is a notification from the Lahore deputy commissioner under section 6 of the kite flying law, naming the permitted days, areas and conditions, with prior government approval. The deputy commissioner issued it on 23 October 2026, after the Punjab cabinet approved the dates, Dawn reported. It permits flying within Lahore district on 12 to 14 March, except the no-fly zones near the airport, with permitted materials only. Fly only on those three days, and check any notification you're sent against official sources: in August the Home Department called one circulating on social media fake.

Eid comes first

Eid ul Fitr is expected around 9 or 10 March 2027, subject to moon sighting, so Basant opens two or three days later. Expect Eid travel and Basant crowds in the same week, with busy roads and booked hotels. Coming home from abroad for Eid ul Fitr 2027? One trip now covers Eid and Basant.

Better weather, still a risk

Mid March is warmer than late January and fog is less of a problem, but the rules still ban kite flying in strong wind, rain, thunderstorms and poor visibility. With only three days, losing one to weather costs a third of the festival.

Punjab kite flying rules for Basant 2027

Kite flying is legal for Basant 2027, but only inside a specific rulebook, and that rulebook decides whether your rooftop plan is lawful. None of the date changes touched it.

The Punjab Home Department notified a fresh set of guidelines on 24 April 2026, under the Punjab Regulation of Kite Flying Act, 2025 read with the Punjab Kite Flying Regulations, 2025. The News published the key points, and ProPakistani and The Nation covered the rollout.

Rooftops

Kite flying is allowed only on structurally safe rooftops. Unsafe roofs are off limits, and the owner can't permit their use.
Parapets or boundary walls must be at least three and a half feet high.
Roofs have to be repaired, cleaned and free of wet or dusty surfaces before anyone flies from them.
Overcrowding is prohibited. Occupancy can't exceed what the roof safely carries.
Electricity wires near the roof must be secured, or that rooftop should be avoided entirely.
Inflammable material must be kept off the roof.

Behaviour

Running, jumping, leaning over edges and aggressive kite catching are banned outright.
Children need constant adult supervision and aren't allowed near roof edges unsupervised. Parents and guardians carry the primary responsibility.
Using a mobile phone near the edge isn't allowed if it's distracting you.
Loud music, DJ systems and high decibel sound systems are prohibited during kite flying, and nuisance or harassment of neighbours is a punishable offence.

Weather and safety kit

Kite flying is banned during strong winds, rain, thunderstorms or poor visibility, so build a backup plan into any rooftop booking. First aid kits are mandatory at every kite flying location, with Rescue 1122 numbers displayed on site.

Who is on the hook

Building owners and event organisers are held jointly responsible for any accident or violation. District administrations, police and allied departments can inspect premises and stop unsafe activity, and deputy commissioners and district police officers have been told to ensure full implementation.

The 30 December 2026 deadline

Associated Press of Pakistan reported that the province set 30 December 2026 as the date by which the rules must be fully in place. The News reported the notification's own wording as requiring compliance by 31 December of the year before any kite flying event, so treat the last week of December 2026 as the hard edge either way. If you own or manage a building people will fly from, the parapet work and the safety arrangements are a 2026 job, not a job for festival week.

Dawn's 11 September 2026 report on the Home Department's safe Basant plan repeated the 31 December deadline and the three and a half foot parapet rule, and said deputy commissioners can inspect old buildings and seal those that don't comply.

No-fly zones in Lahore for Basant 2027

The deputy commissioner's notification of 23 October 2026 keeps kite flying banned in two areas near the airport, even during the festival, Pakistan Today reported:

Under the aircraft approach path: Nadirabad, Gulshan Ali Colony, Nishat Colony, Bhatta Chowk and DHA Lahore blocks R, S, P and Q.
Under the take-off path: Al-Faisal Town, Jorraypul, Tajpura and the adjacent stretch of Canal Bank Road.

If your rooftop is in one of these areas, plan to fly somewhere else.

What the penalties actually are

Here's what the law actually threatens you with.

The Punjab Assembly passed the kite flying bill in December 2025. It was assented and gazetted on 2 January 2026 as the Punjab Regulation of Kite Flying Act 2025, Act I of 2026. Straight from the statute:

Flying a kite at all, outside what section 6 permits (section 3(2)): three to five years' imprisonment, a fine of Rs 2 million, or both, plus another year if the fine goes unpaid. The Act bans kite flying and abetting it outright, then carves out permitted windows. That carve out is the whole legal basis for Basant.
Making, transporting or selling kites, or storing and selling banned string, outside what section 6 permits (section 3(3)): five to seven years' imprisonment, a fine of Rs 5 million, or both, plus two more years if the fine goes unpaid. This reaches kites themselves, not just metallic wire, nylon tandi and maanjha coated thread.
Trading without registration (section 5(3)): one to five years' imprisonment, a fine of Rs 100,000 to Rs 500,000, or both. Manufacturers, traders and sellers all have to register with the deputy commissioner, and kite flying associations register separately under section 7.
Children (sections 3(4) and 3(5)): tried under the Juvenile Justice System Act 2018, with a Rs 50,000 fine for a first offence and Rs 100,000 on repetition, recoverable from parents or guardians if the child can't pay.
Status of the offences (sections 4 and 9): cognizable and non bailable, and a police officer of sub inspector rank or above can enter, search, seize and arrest without a warrant.

So "I didn't know" won't help you, and not paying the fine just adds another year on top.

The mechanism that makes Basant legal at all sits in the same law. Section 6(1) lets the deputy commissioner allow permissible kite flying by notification, with prior government approval, subject to whatever conditions and restrictions they impose, for specified periods, areas and places. Section 6(2) then puts teeth on it: fly outside the terms of that notification, meaning the wrong day, the wrong area, or in breach of its conditions, and you're back to three to five years, a fine of Rs 2 million, or both. Section 6(3) adds that in a district where permission has been granted, no motorcycle may be driven without the prescribed safety measures, on pain of a Rs 2,000 fine. That's why the district notification, not the Chief Minister's announcement, is the document that actually governs what you're allowed to do on any given day of the festival.

Kite size and string rules: why the dor matters more than the kite

The main reason Basant was banned in the first place was string. Twine coated with glass, metal filings or chemicals cuts through skin, and it killed motorcyclists and children for years, alongside deaths from celebratory aerial firing, before the province pulled the plug in 2007.

The 2025 law bans metallic wire, nylon cord and any string coated with glass or other sharp substances, the manjha that caused the original carnage. When Basant returned in 2026 under that framework, the rules restricted kite string to thread based material, set up designated flying zones with surveillance, required protective wires on motorcycles and banned aerial firing. Gulf News summarised the framework in its coverage of the aftermath, and 24 News reported that only approved cotton string was permitted.

For 2027 the notification spells it out, Daily Times reported:

Patang: up to 4.5 githi, 35 inches wide and 30 inches long.
Gudda: up to 1.5 tawa, 40 inches wide and 34 inches long.
Dor: cotton only, wound as a pinna, with no more than nine taars and at least 28 counts.
Maanjha: made only from maya (laundry starch), 350-mesh glass powder and rice flour. Rema tip top, amri powder and any other chemical, hardener or metal are banned.
Charkhi: banned outright, along with sharp maanjha, metallic wire and nylon dandi.

Buy from a registered seller, and treat any vendor offering a coated or metallic dor as a legal problem rather than a bargain.

Traditional Pakistani style kites laid out beside spools of kite string wound on plastic pinnas — Kites and spools of string. Photo by Paavans, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

What Basant 2026 taught the province

The 2026 festival did more than Rs 1.5 billion of business and killed at least 17 people. The 2027 rulebook is a direct response to the second number.

The three day festival opened on 6 February 2026 and ran to 8 February, the first legal Basant in Lahore since 2007. Commercially it was enormous. The Kite Flying Association, via 24 News, put the numbers at roughly one million kites sold in a single day, more than 20,000 spools of string, and more than Rs 1.5 billion of business in five days. Kite makers who had spent nearly two decades out of work were suddenly back in it.

The safety record was worse than the headlines suggested. Gulf News reported at least 17 deaths across the three days and more than 100 related accidents: 12 people died falling off rooftops, three were electrocuted and two fell out of trees. A petition on the deaths and injuries came before Justice Owais Khalid of the Lahore High Court, where the petitioner's counsel complained that data on kite string injuries still hadn't been provided.

Read the 2027 rulebook next to that list and most of it maps onto a way somebody died in 2026. Parapet heights, occupancy limits, no running or leaning over edges, secured electricity wires, adult supervision.

In February 2026, Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari had said the next Basant would land in February 2027 and would be "bigger and better".

Kite makers got their head start

Kite and string manufacturers have been registering on the Basant Portal 2027 since 5 September 2026, and sellers, traders and kite flying associations were told to expect their turn in January or February 2027, well ahead of a March festival. Who registers when, what it costs and how to apply are in our Basant 2027 registration and licence guide.

Lahore Fort seen from a rooftop in the Walled City, with the Pakistan flag flying over the gate — The view from a Walled City rooftop on Fort Food Street. This is what a Basant rooftop rent buys. Photo by Imranhaider77, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How to plan Basant 2027 in Lahore

Five months of notice and a single festival weekend. The dates are approved, so book early, but keep it refundable where you can.

If you want to see what is being offered ahead of the season, bugo.pk has listed Basant 2027 kite packages in Lahore from The Kite Fighters. They are browsable now but not on sale: like every seller, they cannot legally trade until seller registration opens and the Punjab government sets the selling dates.

Commit, with a safety net. The dates changed twice before the cabinet approved them. Ask for anything you book in writing, with a refund if the schedule moves again.

Lock the rooftop early. Zameen reported that Walled City rooftops went for Rs 500,000 to over Rs 1 million for Basant 2026, with prime spots around Delhi Gate, Bhaati Gate, Mochi Gate and Rang Mahal reaching Rs 2.5 to 3 million for three days, booked weeks ahead. That was for a three day festival, the same length as Basant 2027, and the week after Eid will add demand. Ask the owner two questions before you pay: how high is the parapet, and how many people are they letting up.
Book travel and stay early for the weekends. Weekday festival days will be easier on both.
Buy kites and string from registered sellers only. Whatever the manufacturing timeline turns out to be, unapproved dor is a criminal matter, not a bargain.
Sort the safety basics. First aid kit on site, Rescue 1122 saved in your phone, one adult clearly responsible for every child on the roof.
Plan for weather. Flying isn't permitted in strong wind, rain or poor visibility, so keep a ground level plan in case weather takes a day.
Book your Basant look ahead of the rush. Salon slots in Lahore vanish before any big event weekend, and Basant 2027 lands right after Eid. bugo.pk lists discounted party makeup and styling deals across the city, and our Lahore makeup price guide covers what a party look actually costs. Basant is a yellow festival, so plan the outfit along with the Eid one.

Sources

Cover photo: kite flying from rooftops in Lahore, by Guilhem Vellut, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Frequently asked questions

When is Basant 2027 in Lahore (Lahore mein 2027 ki Basant kab hai)?

Friday 12 March to Sunday 14 March 2027 in Lahore. The Punjab cabinet approved these dates, the Express Tribune reported on 20 October 2026, confirming the deputy commissioner's notification of 17 October.

Has the Basant 2027 notification been issued?

Yes. The Lahore deputy commissioner formally notified Basant on 23 October 2026, after the Punjab cabinet approved 12 to 14 March 2027. It permits kite flying across Lahore district on those days, except the no-fly zones near the airport.

Is kite flying legal in Pakistan again?

In Punjab, yes, within the framework of the Punjab Regulation of Kite Flying Act, 2025 and the safety rules notified in April 2026. It isn't a free for all. Rooftop standards, string restrictions and behaviour rules all apply, and the offences are cognizable and non bailable.

Where is Basant 2027 being held, and what about other cities?

Lahore. The notification covers Lahore district, excluding prohibited zones, and nothing has been announced for other Punjab districts. Assume Lahore only until a district notification says otherwise. For the reported plan to allow Basant across Punjab, see our Basant 2027 outside Lahore guide.

Where is kite flying banned in Lahore during Basant 2027?

Near the airport. The notification bans it under the aircraft approach path, in Nadirabad, Gulshan Ali Colony, Nishat Colony, Bhatta Chowk and DHA Lahore blocks R, S, P and Q, and under the take-off path, in Al-Faisal Town, Jorraypul, Tajpura and the adjacent stretch of Canal Bank Road.

What size kite is allowed for Basant 2027?

A patang can be up to 4.5 githi, 35 inches wide and 30 inches long. A gudda can be up to 1.5 tawa, 40 inches wide and 34 inches long. Anything bigger is not allowed under the Lahore notification.

What are the rooftop rules for Basant 2027?

Structurally safe roof, boundary wall or parapet of at least three and a half feet, no overcrowding, no running, jumping or leaning over edges, constant adult supervision of children, secured electricity wires, no loud music or DJ systems, and a first aid kit on site. Building owners and organisers are jointly responsible for accidents.

What happens if you break the kite flying rules?

Flying a kite outside what the district notification permits carries three to five years' imprisonment, a fine of Rs 2 million, or both. Making, transporting or selling kites or banned string without permission carries five to seven years, a fine of Rs 5 million, or both. These offences are cognizable and non bailable.

Ahmad Nadeem

HR Manager at Heuristic Sol in Lahore, working across HR operations and people management. Holds an MBA in Human Resources Management from The Superior University.