Worst attack in years: Locusts reach Jhansi, damage crops in Nagpur; Punjab too on alert

NEW DELHI: After damaging crops in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, swarms of locusts entered Uttar Pradesh's Jhansi district Wednesday amid what is being described as the worst attack in 26 years.

However, the concentration of locusts has been in central Rajasthan and they are not expected to move towards Delhi in the next 24 hours, according to an official of Rajasthan agriculture department.

Delhi has been on alert amid fears that the swarm of locusts may move towards the national capital depending on the wind speed .

Locust swarms ‘headed’ to Delhi, UP braces for 2nd attack

A swarm reached Jhansi district on Wednesday, following which other districts in the regions are also on alert, an Uttar Pradesh official said.

Locusts had earlier attacked some parts of Jhansi district on May 22 and 24. Taking cognisance of the problem, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has directed district magistrates of districts bordering other states to take appropriate measures to deal with the menace.

Instructions were issued to DMs of Jhansi, Lalitpur, Agra, Mathura, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Mahoba, Banda, Chitrakoot, Jalaun, Etawah and Kanpur Dehat.

Adityanath and UP agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi instructed the DMs and officers of the agriculture department to take appropriate action, a statement issued on Wednesday said.

"It is not a new problem and we had been facing it for a long time. This year, the locusts attack is the worst in 26 years,” an official at the Faridabad-based Locust Warning Organisation (LWO) told PTI.

The official said there is a coordinated effort to contain the locust spread. Earlier, locusts have been confined to Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Since the insects are not finding enough food to survive, they are moving to other areas with the help of strong winds, he said.

According to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research Director General Trilochan Mohapatra, the insects have attacked about 40,000 hectares of land.

But there is no impact on rabi crops like wheat, pulses and oilseeds as most of them are harvested by now.

"The focus now is to stop the outbreak prior to arrival of monsoon rainfall in June-July when locusts will mature and breed. If the infestation is not controlled, it will pose a threat to kharif crops," he said.

The latest swarm was spotted in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh's Datia district. Anticipating its arrival, Jhansi administration had already deployed fire brigade vehicles loaded with pesticide and taken other measures.

The locusts reached Skill village in Garautha tehsil around 4.30 pm, Jhansi division's Deputy Director Agriculture Kamal Katiyar told PTI.

The swarm is spread over an area of about one square kilometre.

"A relatively small swarm of locusts was also spotted in Datawali village under Samthar police station area,” Katiyar said.

In Maharashtra, officials said swarms that had entered Katol and Parseoni in Nagpur district over the last four days might now move towards Ramtek city.

It is, however, difficult to predict their exact flying course, an agriculture department official said.

The swarms, stretching up to 17 km, had first entered farms in Nagpur district's Katol and Wardha's Ashti taluka on Saturday night and Sunday, damaging the orange crop and vegetable plantations.

The locusts then moved towards Parseoni tehsil on Monday night.

"These swarms are moving towards Ramtek or Mouda (in Nagpur district). However, one cannot say for sure where the swarms of locusts will descend,” Ravi Bhosale, Divisional Joint Director in Agriculture Department, said.

“They might fly in the direction of Ramtek or might change the course, as they fly as per the flow of wind," he added.

Punjab fears it could be a target.

"An alert has been issued in whole Punjab," Agriculture Director Sawtantar Kumar Airi said.

Control rooms have been set up in each district and farmers asked to report any locust activity, he said.

Locusts were spotted in some villages in Punjab's Fazilka and Muktsar districts in January but were effectively contained then.

The current attack began last month when swarms entered Rajasthan from Pakistan, and then spread to other western states.

About half of Rajasthan's districts have been affected to some extent, officials said.

(With inputs from PTI)