The Odisha government has planted 19 lakh palm saplings to curb the rising number of lightning death cases in the state.

The state government is also planning to plant another 4 lakh palm saplings in the coming days.

Palm trees act as natural conductors during lightning strikes and prevent loss of lives.

During the last five years, 1,418 people across Odisha have been killed by lightning strikes. Mayurbhanj district reported the highest toll, with 134 deaths attributed to lightning in the last five years, followed by 110 in Balasore, 104 in Ganjam and 100 in Keonjhar district.

Lightning took the lives of 339 people in the state in 2020-21, 296 people died in 2021-22, 306 deaths in 2022-23, and 272 and 205 deaths were reported in 2023-24 and 2024-25, minister of revenue and disaster management Suresh Pujari informed the state assembly on Thursday.

“The state government has earmarked ₹7.59 crore during the last two years to reduce lighting-related incidents,” Pujari added.

The highest number of palm saplings have been planted in the Kalahandi forest division. The state government has made obtaining permission before cutting palm trees mandatory. Any cutting of palm trees without prior permission would be illegal.

“We will we check the cutting of trees only through regulations. One needa obtain permission from the forest department to chop off a palm tree, even if one owns it. The violation will attract fines,” forest officials said.

The Odisha government has already collaborated with the Indian Institute of Tropical Management (IITM), Pune, to obtain information about lightning strikes. “We have released the data about lightning strikes in Odisha based on the IITM Pune’s report. The entire state has been covered with the Earth Networks system,” officials said.

The state has also collaborated with the US-based Earth Networks to get early warnings on lightning. “They have set up lightning detection centres and started giving us alerts and warnings about possible lightning strikes which we are further disseminating through different mediums, particularly using the GPS system. The mechanism is working on a Location Based System (LBS),” said an official.

In June 2015, the state government had declared lightning as a state-specificdisaster.

According to the state disaster response fund guidelines, an ex gratia of ₹4 lakh each has been paid to the next of kin of those killed in lightning strikes.

Additional reporting by PTI