Crop on over 1.49 lakh hectares damaged due locust attack: Rajasthan minister

Crop on over 1.49 lakh hectares has been damaged in various districts due the locust attack since May, Rajasthan Agriculture Minister Lal Chand Kataria informed the state assembly here on Monday.

He, however, said no significant damage was caused to the kharif crop due to a prompt action by the authorities when swarms of locust entered Jaisalmer on May 21 last year.

"Fresh locust swarms entered the country in December 2019 due to wind intensity and lack of effective control over locusts by neighbouring country Pakistan," he said amid the BJP criticism that the state did not take timely action to tackle the problem.

He said the crop on 1,49,881 hectares--54,989 hectares in Jaisalmer, 53,682 hectares in Jalore, 33,788 hectares in Barmer, 2,549 hectares in Bikaner, 2,308 hectares in Jodhpur--was damaged.

He said till date the locust control exercise had been taken up on 5,29,602 hectares and pesticides were given to farmers at 100 per cent subsidy.

Earlier, Deputy Leader of the Opposition Rajendra Rathore said that state government could shy away from its responsibility.

On this, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot intervened and said he was speaking without complete knowledge.

Gehlot said, "Your Union minister in the Rajya Sabha has said that the Rajasthan government did the best job in locust control. Even if you don't believe us, trust the Union minister of your government.