Thunderbolt in Kendrapara sky. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Kendrapara, Aug. 3: Every time the sky turns overcast, an unknown fear grips residents of this district headquarters township as bolts from the blue claims lives at periodic intervals.

The latest thunder strike on Tuesday claimed three agricultural labourers, besides injuring an equal number of persons in Chakroda village. A day ago, yet another farm labourer had died after being struck by lightning. The usual monsoon lightning toll here has just begun. The spectre of killer lightning would spread through the monsoon months.

After a fortnight of dry spell, farmers and farm labourers were jubilant with the much-needed drops of rains while taking up tilling and sowing activities. But continuous strikes of lightning have made people in the farming sector scary, as working in open fields during rains is no longer considered safe. It’s like exposing oneself to deadly strikes from the heaven.

On an average, the human toll due to lightning stands at 27 every year in this district. Interestingly, most of those who die due to lightning strikes are poor people. Over two third of them are either daily wagers or farm labourers, according to findings by the district emergency wing.

“Natural calamities, such as flood, cyclone and drought frequent these areas. These natural disasters also account for loss of human lives and property. But the magnitude of loss of human lives due to lightning strikes is much higher than the rest of the natural calamities. Lightning took 113 human lives in the last five years while other forms of calamities have claimed considerably less lives,” said district emergency officer Rudra Prasad Mohanty.

“It is a natural phenomenon. Other parts of the state are also coming under the lightning strike. To stop its occurrence is simply beyond human control. Keeping in view the fact that farm labourers are falling prey to lightning, we have issued advisories to gram panchayats. The panchayati raj institution representatives have been asked to request the farmers not to expose themselves in open fields during thunder strikes,” said Kendrapara collector Pradipta Patnaik.

Lightning often precedes rains. “As death due to lightning strike does not figure in the list of natural disasters, there are no provisions for gratuitous relief for victim’s kin from the central government’s calamity relief funds. The state government, however, is providing Rs 50,000 ex-gratia from its disaster relief fund to next kin of lightning victims, he said.