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Killer lightning
Sir: Of late, we read reports often that humans and cattle are being struck by lightning. This is killing thousands of innocent lives during rains and thunderstorms. Why the sudden rise? Is it due to deforestation or due to too many mobile towers, high rise buildings and structures? A news clipping reads: “The bench asked the central government to file the panel’s reports and its suggestions on the issue. Jain’s advocate Sugriv Dubey submitted before the court that people were being misled as he was not getting information on the question of radiation from the mobile telephone towers. “The common man is being kept in the dark and the effects of mobile towers are not being brought to the knowledge of residents of the locality where the towers have been installed, and hence large numbers of people are falling prey to diseases like cancer and other diseases,” said the petition.
Radiation from mobile phone towers causes glioma, a type of brain cancer, as reported by the committee before the World Health Organization, submitted Dubey. “The international agency for research on cancer has also established that mobile phone towers are very powerful and causing different diseases to those residing within 50meters of the mobile towers.” The petition also submitted: “The radiation values and norms in other countries are more stringent and the exposure allowed is much lower but in our country, no specific rule or norm for residential areas, schools, offices, hospitals and playgrounds has been laid down to avoid radiation exposure.”
After the Maggie episode, it is necessary to find out, in public interest, as to how many towers are there in Orissa and how many have the safety device? How many of them are near schools and housetops? If one can’t go to a proper lightning shelter, at least avoid the most dangerous locations and activities. Avoid higher elevations, avoid holding metal objects, avoid wide-open areas including sports fields and beaches, and avoid tall isolated objects like trees, poles, and lightposts. Avoid water-related activities: boating, swimming (includes indoor pools), and fishing. Avoid golfing. Avoid open vehicles like open farm tractors, open construction vehicles, riding lawnmowers, and golf carts (even with roofs) avoid unprotected open buildings like picnic pavilions, rain shelters, and bus stops. Avoid metal fences and metal bleachers. Avoid going out of your car during thunder storms. We have to find an answer for nature’s fury.
Sanjoy Kumar Satpathy, Prof. PB Tripathi, BHUBANESWAR