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MIDNAPORE/KOLKATA: Polling personnel headed to voting booths in rural Bengal for this Saturday’s panchayat polls will be carrying an unusual item in their kit: carbolic acid.
A six-page “checklist” of materials to be handed over to polling parties, issued by the State Election Commission and sent to district magistrates, consists of this disinfectant along with other mandatory items like ballot boxes, ballot papers and indelible ink. Carbolic acid is part of a packet that includes four candles and matchboxes and, in some cases, a torch.
With the onset of the monsoon, snakebites are common in rural Bengal and carbolic acid is a known snake repellent. It is common practice in rural areas to use carbolic acid to keep snakes at bay. On July 8, the day of polling, IMD has predicted light to moderate rain with thundershowers in both south and north Bengal.
Most snakebites in Bengal are reported in the monsoon months, between June and August. At least four types of venomous snakes – two types of cobras, Russell’s viper and the common krait – are found in abundance in the state.
“During monsoon, snakes come out to hunt for their prey. As a result, snakebite cases zoom. However, only about 10%-15% of these are venomous bites,” said the emergency department in-charge at Calcutta National Medical College, Dayal Bandhu Mazumdar, who is also a technical adviser to ICMR on snakebites.
“Carbolic acid is highly corrosive and has a strong pungent smell that can work as a deterrent to snakes,” said forensic medicine professor Somnath Das of Bankura Sammilani Medical College. According to Puja Ray, assistant professor at Presidency University’s life science department, even a slight smell of carbolic acid, which is extremely corrosive, “makes a snake change its route”.
A six-page “checklist” of materials to be handed over to polling parties, issued by the State Election Commission and sent to district magistrates, consists of this disinfectant along with other mandatory items like ballot boxes, ballot papers and indelible ink. Carbolic acid is part of a packet that includes four candles and matchboxes and, in some cases, a torch.
With the onset of the monsoon, snakebites are common in rural Bengal and carbolic acid is a known snake repellent. It is common practice in rural areas to use carbolic acid to keep snakes at bay. On July 8, the day of polling, IMD has predicted light to moderate rain with thundershowers in both south and north Bengal.
Most snakebites in Bengal are reported in the monsoon months, between June and August. At least four types of venomous snakes – two types of cobras, Russell’s viper and the common krait – are found in abundance in the state.
“During monsoon, snakes come out to hunt for their prey. As a result, snakebite cases zoom. However, only about 10%-15% of these are venomous bites,” said the emergency department in-charge at Calcutta National Medical College, Dayal Bandhu Mazumdar, who is also a technical adviser to ICMR on snakebites.
“Carbolic acid is highly corrosive and has a strong pungent smell that can work as a deterrent to snakes,” said forensic medicine professor Somnath Das of Bankura Sammilani Medical College. According to Puja Ray, assistant professor at Presidency University’s life science department, even a slight smell of carbolic acid, which is extremely corrosive, “makes a snake change its route”.
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