Jagatsinghpur: The district administration is carrying out a drive to plant palm trees on vacant roadside patches because these can provide protection from lightning during thunderstorms.

With a large number of lightning-related deaths being reported from the region, the administration has taken up the plantation of these trees on an experimental basis.

The plantation has been undertaken along a 1km stretch from Dak Bungalow Chowk to Rashmi Cinema junction at the district headquarters township. Around 50 palm trees stand along the road now.

"We are hopeful of the tree cover act as a lightening arrester," said an official, adding that the administration was planning to intensify the palm tree plantation drive in other barren patches.

"It has been found in the past that palm trees are effective as electrical conducting path for lightning," said Sarat Chandra Sahu, director of the local meteorological department.

Lightning is widely perceived as the most unpredictable natural phenomenon. It has claimed 2,408 human lives in past seven years.

On an average, 350 persons die in the state from lightning strikes.

The victims are largely from rural areas and most of the deceased are farmers engaged in agricultural activities in the field, said official sources.

Lightning was declared a state-specific disaster from April 1, 2015.

According to the revised norms, the government provides Rs 4 lakh as compensation for each of the families of the lightning death victims.

Before 2015, the ex-gratia was either paid from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund or District Gratuitous Relief Fund.