Two locust swarms from Indo-Pak border areas reported

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 22

Two locust swarms from Indo-Pak border areas, one each in Bikaner and Sri Ganganagar district, in Rajasthan, were reported on Monday, the government said.

The officials said the locust-control operation was in full swing mainly in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

At present, swarms of immature pink locusts with an intermittent population of maturing yellow adults are active in Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Sri Ganganagar, Jaipur, Nagaur, and Ajmer districts of Rajasthan, Panna district of Madhya Pradesh and Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh.

The immature locust is very active and mobile, making it difficult to control the swarm at one location, owing to which it takes four to five days to control at different locations to completely eliminate the locust population in one place.

The yellow, mature adults appear tending to copulate in some areas, it said.

As on June 21, locust control has been undertaken in 1,14,026-hectare area in Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

As many as 62 spray equipment (21 Micronair and 41 Ulvamast) are being used by Locust Circle Offices while 200 employees of Locust Warning Organisation are deployed for conducting survey and control work.

“Control room has been established in all 10 Locust Circle Offices and also at LWO, Jodhpur. Even beyond the Scheduled Desert Area, temporary base camps are set up, at Jaipur, Ajmer, Dausa and Chittorgarh in Rajasthan; Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh; and at Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh for effective control of desert locust,” it said.

Presently, the control work is in full swing with the cooperation and coordination of the states’ Agricultural Department, local administration and the BSF.

Every day, locust-control operations are carried out in the morning hours with the help of vehicle-mounted sprayers, tractors and fire tender vehicles. The control operations are conducted with the cooperation and in coordination with concerned officials of district administration and states’ Agriculture Department.

So far, the Rajasthan government has deployed total 2,142 tractors and 46 fire brigade vehicles, Madhya Pradesh totals 83 tractors and 47 fire brigade vehicles, Uttar Pradesh 4 tractors and 16 fire brigade vehicles, Punjab total 50 tractors and 6 fire brigade vehicles and Gujarat deployed 38 tractors for locust control.

The supply order for 60 additional sprayers is placed with M/s Micron, UK.

The Government of India has also issued a supply order of five CD Atomizer kits with GPS trackers for aerial spray capabilities from this UK-based company.

For effective control of locusts in inaccessible areas and on top of tall trees, the use of drones is also being explored.

An e-tender was invited to provide services of drones for aerial spraying of pesticides. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has approved a conditional exemption for locust control.

An Empowered Committee has been constituted under the Chairmanship of Additional Secretary, DAC&FW to assess and facilitate the possibility of aerial control capability as a locust control measure.

On its recommendation, work order for engagement of drones was issued to five companies on June 6. These companies have started work in Barmer, Jaisalmer, Phalodi, Bikaner and Nagaur areas and so far, 12 drones have been deployed.

The supply order has also been issued for purchase of 55 additional vehicles to strengthen the control capacity. As many as 33 vehicles have been delivered and deployed in locust control operations.

The situation is monitored constantly by higher authorities and needful is being done on priority basis.

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