Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has decided to install lightning catcher devices at all its parks located in the city. The civic body has already kicked off the process by putting up four such devices at Deshapriya Park in South Kolkata.
It may be mentioned that the decision of the KMC to install such devices came soon after young cricketer Debabrata Pal, while warming up with his teammates, was struck by a bolt of lightning and killed in one of the city's most popular coaching hubs at Vivekananda Park on June 10.
Pal (21) of Serampore in Hooghly district had joined the camp in May, because his parents would not let him play serious cricket until he had graduated.
"The move is aimed at preventing such mishaps in future. We will first install these instruments in all the parks that have solar panels. Maddox Square, Jatin Das Park, Deshbandhu Park and Parnasree Park will be covered in the immediate next phase. The parks that do not have solar lights will follow," said Debashis Kumar, Member, Mayor-in-Council (Parks & Gardens), KMC.
KMC is the custodian of as many as 700 parks spanning across 144 wards of the civic body. The civic body has already installed solar panels in a number of parks in the city, with an intention to reduce electricity bills and is also in the process of having similar facilities in some more parks.
"There are chances of solar panels getting damaged by lightning, so we are first installing these devices at the solar parks," a senior KMC official said.
These lightning catcher devices have the capacity to draw the lightning, thereby preventing it from reaching the ground and so chances of damage are minimum.
It may be mentioned that in the month of May and June, there have been a number of deaths across the state due to lightning strikes.