BERHAMPUR: Even as the district administration of Ganjam has been lauded by international organisations for ensuring ‘zero casualty’ during natural calamities, rise in number of deaths due to sunstroke, lightning, snakebite, drowning and fire mishaps have emerged as a major cause of concern for the authorities.
As per a report of the district emergency office, as many as 489 people have died due to such causes in the last four years in Ganjam. These include nine deaths due to lightning, 211 due to snakebite, 19 due to sunstroke, 157 in drowning and 10 in fire mishaps.
Of the drowning deaths, 24 were reported in 2016 and it went up to 31 in 2017. It further rose to 75 in 2018 and 27 such deaths have been reported so far this year.
Similarly, in 2016, a total of 51 people died due to snakebite. The number went up to 81 in 2017 and came down to 63 in 2018. This year, 16 such deaths were reported from across the district. Sunstroke claimed four lives in 2016, seven in 2017, five in 2018 and three this year.Lightning claimed 26 lives in 2016, 38 in 2017, 18 in 2018 and 15 this year.