States tighten locust control measures as pest gives Delhi a miss for now

Govt asserts desert locusts have not impacted rabi crops and efforts are on to eliminate the insects before monsoon in order to save kharif

As several states tightened their pest control measures following the threat of locust attacks, the national capital of Delhi was agog with rumours floating in social media about a swarm of locusts reaching the city and its adjoining area around late noon. This, however, turned out to be a false alarm.

"There is no possibility of any locust swarm reaching New Delhi by 4PM today as stated in news. The swarms are moving towards Dausa, Karauli and Dholpur," K L Gurjar, deputy director of Locust Warning Organisation (LWO) clarified in a tweet after several social media posts warned about an eminent attack.

Officials also clarified that the swarms are unlikely to head towards the capital anytime soon, as the wind in their breeding zone of west Rajasthan has moved in a South-Eastern direction which has pushed these swarms towards Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and even up to Chhattisgarh in eastern India.

The government meanwhile, asserted that desert locusts have not impacted rabi crops in India and efforts are on to eliminate the insects before monsoon in order to save kharif crops. 

It said the swarms would not have posed a big threat to India, had neighbouring Pakistan controlled its spread at its end.

States meanwhile tightened their appratus to fight the threat.

In Jhansi sub-division of Uttar Pradesh, fire brigade vehicles loaded with insecticide have been kept on standby after an alert that a swarm of locusts could cross over from neighbouring Madhya Pradesh.

According to Kamal Katiyar, deputy director in UP's Agriculture Department, a swarm spread over a square kilometre, has been spotted in Madhya Pradesh's Datia district. It could enter the adjacent Jhansi district through Moth or Samthar regions. The current wind direction increases the chances of this happening.

Swarms of locusts entered Rajasthan from Pakistan last month and then spread to other western states. Several districts in Rajasthan were affected and recently a swarm was spotted in a residential area in Jaipur.

The northern state of Punjab was also put on alert and farmers have been asked to keep an eye out for any locust activity.

The state government has sanctioned a sum of Rs 1 crore for containing locust attacks, senior agriculture department officials said. A detailed action plan to check the invasion of locust swarms has been prepared by the state department, they added. 

In Maharashtra, swarms of locusts that had entered Katol and Parseoni in Nagpur district of Maharashtra over the last four days are threatening to move towards the Ramtek city.

The swarms stretching up to 17 kms in length had first entered farms in Fetri, Khangaon in Katol in Nagpur district and in Ashti taluka in Wardha district on Saturday night and Sunday where they damaged orange crop and vegetable plantations in some areas, before moving towards Parseoni tehsil on Monday night.

Divisional Joint Director of Agriculture Ravi Bhosale told PTI that officials rushed to the spots on Wednesday morning and started tracking the movement of the swarms.

In Chhattisgarh agriculture department and farmers of districts bordering Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra have been alerted after swarms of locusts attacked crops in the neighbouring states.Farmers have been advised to use pesticides like malathion, fenvalerate and quinalphos, to save their crops from locust attack. 

Agriculture authorities and farmers in the states Rajnandgaon district, which shares border with Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, have been asked to be extra cautious as huge swarms of locusts may reach there in a day or two.

The Central government meanwhile has sanctioned a sum of Rs 68.65 crore for Rajasthan, where the summer crop was affected due to desert locust pest attack.