THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, June 8: Lightning kills humans more than snakes in Palamu. It comes abruptly and fiercely.
Although the state meteorological department issues weather alerts like thunder, showers, rain, lightning, gusts of wind etc, access to weather alerts is limited.
Not many people come to know that in a few hours, there is an alert for thunder, lightning and rain.
And when lightning comes, it takes one by surprise who is out in the field and the only place to save oneself appears to be any tree there and once one gets under the tree the lightning strikes and sniffs out life.
A young girl, 17, was collecting fallen mangoes at Chandwa in Latehar district where lightning killed the poor girl instantly.
36 deaths by lightning in 2022
36 deaths by lightning had occurred in Palamu in the year 2022. Except 2 all the other families of the 34 killed by lightning were compensated by 4 lakhs of rupees each.
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Non-availability of fund
Additional Collector Kundan Kumar, who is the Nodal officer of the district disaster management, said we try hard to dole out ex gratia relief to the tune of Rs 4 lakh per death by lightning irrespective of the age minor or major or BPL or APL without any delay but it gets delayed due to the non-availability of fund that comes from the state government.
11 deaths by lightning in 2023
Similarly, 11 deaths by lightning were documented in 2023 and here 6 got the ex-gratia relief.
Kundan Kumar asked people to be first careful and watchful of the lightning and not to remain in an open field or under a tree once there is a spree of the lightning. He said, “Be safe. Let lightning not kill you. A simple alert and caution can save life.”
Kundan Kumar reiterated that the state disaster management authority keeps issuing dos and don’ts regarding lightning and measures to save lives.
Again, there is always a major thrust of awareness of road accidents but in that proportion, there is hardly any awareness about how to survive during the lightning.
Kundan Kumar said we do need to have a series of awareness drives about the lightning starting from the panchayat level.
