Locust control operation is in full swing: Agriculture Ministry

The locust control operation is in full swing, mainly in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh with the cooperation and coordination of the state agricultural departments, local administrations and the Border Security Force (BSF), the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare said in a statement on Monday.

As per the statement, 62 spray equipment (21 Micronair and 41 Ulvamast) are being used by Locust Circle Offices, while 200 employees of the 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 the effective control of desert locust.

According to the Agriculture Ministry, two locust swarms from Indo-Pak border areas are reported, one each in Bikaner and Sriganganagar district while control operation is going on against these swarms.

At present, swarms of immature pink locusts with 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, said the statement.

Everyday, 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 the concerned officials of the district administration and the state agriculture department.

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