Palm tree becomes ‘scheduled’ species; govt to increase plantation & reduce lightning deaths | Bhubaneswar News
Bhubaneswar: In a bid to reduce lightning-related deaths, the forest department on Saturday decided to treat the palm tree as a ‘scheduled’ species for its conservation and planned to intensify its plantation drive across the state.Forest minister Ganesh Ram Singkhuntia held a review meeting to discuss palm plantation. “We have decided to treat the species as a scheduled one so that its conservation is emphasised and it is treated with respect for emergency needs. We will spend around Rs 5 crore for this year’s initiative, following the successful completion of last year’s target of planting 20 lakh trees,” Singkhuntia told TOI.He said palm trees take time to grow. Those planted by the department last year are very small, and field personnel are conducting inspections to ensure their survival, the minister added. In July last year, the forest department reintroduced restrictions on cutting palm trees in view of frequent cases of fatalities in lightning strikes. The govt had put restrictions on cutting palm trees earlier, which were relaxed some years ago.In Sept last year, 12 people were killed by lightning strikes across the state on a single day. In 2021-22, as many as 281 people were killed by lightning, while 3,790 people were struck by lightning in the last 11 years. Palm trees, being the tallest, work as lightning conductors. Experts said lightning usually hits the tallest object first and palm trees will reduce the chances of people getting struck by it. “The practice of palm tree plantation in villages was discontinued due to urbanisation and infrastructure development.Palm trees also protect coastal areas from storms and cyclones,” said environmentalist Swadhin Barik.Forest officials said if anybody wants to cut a palm tree, it requires obtaining a permit from the department. “Some years ago, cutting palm trees was kept beyond the purview of permits, and everyone was allowed to cut palm trees. But this practice led to the vanishing of palm trees,” Barik added. In 2023, the govt asked the forest and agriculture departments to take up massive palm plantation drives in reserve forest areas and other lightning-vulnerable districts to protect against lightning.“Our priority districts are Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak and Keonjhar, followed by Ganjam. Lightning is reported in the state between May and Sept,” the minister added.
