Curbs on palm tree felling to ‘reduce lightning deaths’

Bhubaneswar: Forest department on Monday re-introduced restrictions on cutting of palm trees in view of frequent fatalities due to lightning strikes. Palm trees work as lightning conductor.
The govt had restricted felling palm trees earlier which was relaxed some years ago. In Sept last year, 12 people were killed by lightning strikes in the state. In 2021-22, as many as 281 people were killed by lightning and 3,790 in the last 11 years.
“If anybody wants to cut a palm tree, a permit is required from the forest department. But some years ago the permit requirement was lifted and everyone was allowed to cut palm trees. But this practice led to palm trees vanishing. So we have decided to re-introduce the permit system. Palm trees have been proven to reduce deaths by lightning strikes,” said head of forest force, Debidatta Biswal.
Experts said lightning usually hits the tallest object first like a palm tree which reduces chances of human casualties. “Palm tree plantation in villages has stopped due to urbanisation and infrastructure development. Palm trees also protect coastal areas from storms and cyclones. Hence, the forest department in 2018 suggested that villagers should bury palm seeds along the fields so that they grow into trees but it failed to yield any result,” said environmentalist Nihar Patnaik.