Odisha urges Centre to declare lightning as natural disaster

Bhubaneswar: Odisha government has urged the Central government to declare lightning as natural disaster and sought ex-gratia for the family of the people who are killed due to lightning strikes.

Informing about State government’s decision, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Pramila Mallik said that a discussion in this regard was held with the Union Minister during which a proposal has been given to include lightning in the list of Centre’s natural disasters and provide financial help.

“The State government gives an ex-gratia of Rs 4,00,000 to the family of the people who are killed in lightning. We have appealed the Central government and given proposal to declare it (lightning) as natural disaster,” Pramila Mallik said.

Also Read: Over 6,000 people have been killed by lightning in Odisha since 1999 Super Cyclone: SRC

Like in the case of other natural disasters, the Central government also should give ex-gratia to the kin of the people killed due to lightning strikes. However, we are yet to receive reply from the Central government,” she added.

It is to be noted here that the Odisha Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) had informed that about 60,000 lightning strikes occurred in the Odisha sky in just 2 hours on September 2. There were 36,597 cloud-to-cloud lightning strikes, and 25,753 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes.

Due to the strong lightning, 12 people died while 14 others were injured in the State. Besides, several animals including cattle and goats had died in extreme lightning activities in the State.