From Panna tiger reserve to bustling citi limits of Jaipur – North India is under locust siege. Only in Rajasthan about 90,000 hectares in over 20 districts of Rajasthan are under attack.
Locust swarms in Jaipur this morning. #MondayMorning pic.twitter.com/g5PpCQtb7k
— Rakesh Goswami (@DrRakeshGoswami) May 25, 2020
Centre has pitched in to help states battling an attack by the desert locusts. The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on Wednesday informed that locust control operations have been stepped up in affected states to combat the menace.
“89 fire brigades for pesticide spray; 120 survey vehicles; 47 control vehicles with spray equipment and 810 tractor-mounted sprayers have been deployed for effective locust control, as per requirement during different days,” the ministry said.
Maharashtra has issued a ‘locust warning alert’ for all 11 districts in Vidarbha and four districts in north of the state. Odisha government too has issued readiness guidelines for possible attacks.
UP has over 14 districts on locust alert from Jhansi, Lalitpur in Budelkhand to Agra, Mathura, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, in west, to Hamirpur, Mahoba, Banda, Chitrakoot, Jalaun, Etawah and Kanpur Dehat in rest of the state.
Swarms of locust can travel up to 150 km a day with a speed of 15-20 km per hour and since there is no standing crop in the fields, they are targeting trees and other available vegetation – laying waste to large swaths of flora.
