Mumbai: Recognising victims of lightning for the first time, the State government on Wednesday decided to award a compensation of ₹4 lakh to the families of the dead and between ₹59,000 and ₹2 lakh to the injured. Officials said the number of victims eligible for compensation has been estimated at over 1,000.
There has been a growing clamour to identify lightning as a natural disaster. In 2015, 41 people had lost their lives in Nasik, Aurangabad, Jalna, Parbhani, Osmanabad, Yavatmal and Wardha. An estimated 100 people die every year from lightning strikes in the state.
“The decision came on the insistence to follow the Central government guidelines, which have different disaster mandates. For example, forest fires are identified as a natural disaster only in some states, like Uttarakhand,” said Rajiv Nivatkar, Director, State Disaster Management Cell.
In 2015, a single lightning strike had killed 19 people in Aurnagabad. A research paper on lightning deaths in India published in the Royal Meteorological Society, U.K., had highlighted 5,259 fatalities between 1979 and 2011.
Researchers said the maximum number of fatalities were found in Maharashtra (29%), West Bengal (12%), and Uttar Pradesh (9%).
“The numbers are high during monsoon and every time we have to find some or the other way to compensate people. The amount will be reduced to between ₹4,000 and ₹12,000 if the calamity is notified after a certain limit. It is in the best interest of everybody that a policy has now been declared,” said a senior official.
