Locust keeps Haryana farmers on tenterhooks

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 12

For the third consecutive day on Sunday, swarms of locust continued to keep farmers and officials of the Haryana Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department on the tenterhooks. A large swarm, 4 km in length and 2 km in width, settled on the fields in Karkhara Bass, Dhanonda, Aghiar and Pathera villages of Mahendragarh district.

Another 3-km-long swarm was spotted over the Behal block of Bhiwani and Loharu block of neighbouring Charkhi Dadri and a third, a scattered one, over Sirsa’s Ellenabad area.Surender Dahiya, Additional Director, Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, said while the first swarm was moving towards Charkhi Dadri, the one in Bhiwani and Charkhi Dadri was moving towards Rajasthan.

On Saturday, eight locust swarms — two each in Mahendragarh and Jhajjar and one each in Rewari, Sirsa, Bhiwani and Charkhi Dadri — are reported to have damaged the standing crops extensively. Haryana Agriculture Minister JP Dalal said a special girdawari would be conducted to assess the loss. He visited the locust-affected area of Charkhi Dadri today. “We have reports that about 50 per cent of the swarm has been eliminated with tractor-mounted spray guns,” he said.