Dept officials foil locust attack near highway

Our Correspondent

Abohar, May 14

At a time when people are battling the global pandemic, swarms of locusts were spotted at Diwankhera village, 22 km from here, near the Abohar-Sriganganagar highway on Wednesday evening.

In the past three months, it was the fifth time that the locust swarms were spotted in the region. Earlier, the invasion of locust swarms was limited to Bareka and Roopnagar villages, which are located near the Indo-Pak border. This is the first time that the swarms had attacked near the highway.

On receiving information from farmers, PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar’s nephew Sandeep Jakhar informed the Agriculture Development Officer (ADO) and other officials about the emergence of swarms in the region. In no time, the team of Agriculture Department and Abohar SDM Jaspal Singh Brar reached the spot and took care of the situation.

Sandeep Jakhar said this time the loss was averted due to the vigilance of the farmers and officials of the Agriculture Department, but at the time of cotton sowing, sudden attack by the swarms could prove to be damaging.

Farmers assisted the officials of the Agriculture Department in the night-long operation to eliminate the locust swarms and the task was completed by around 4 am today.

Sandeep appealed to the farmers to inform the authorities immediately on spotting locust near the international border or anywhere in the area.

Parminder Singh, an official, who was present on the occasion, said the farmers must inform the department immediately as soon as they see the locust swarms sitting on a tree or elsewhere. In view of the farmers’ complaint about insufficient availability of water, a resolve has been made to fill water reservoirs and mobile tanks regularly. Such tanks and tractors could help in killing the locust swarms by spraying intensely on them.

ADOs Jaspreet Kaur and Rajinder Verma and a team of National Pesticides Control Centre from Suratgarh monitored the operation.