Locust apocalypse: Huge swarm of grasshoppers swoops over Indian town
An army of locusts coming from the Pakistan side has literally laid seize over a western Indian border district.
Rajasthan’s Jaislamer district is witnessing an attack of such a massive scale after 26 years, said the Locust Warning Organisation (LWO), headquartered in Jodhpur.
According to the officials, locust hunters are trying to control the impact of the attack reported in the Ramdeora-Pokhran area of the district. The last major locust outbreak was reported in Rajasthan in 1993.
LWO deputy director, Dr KL Gurjar, said: ''The millions of locusts have attacked vegetation fields in Jaisalmer. We are spraying insecticides to prevent local breeding.” he said. The authorities have carried out locust control exercise in 800 hectares.
Outlining the reasons for the attack, the deputy director, said: “Control operation was going on in Balochistan (Pakistan) for the past one month. Meanwhile, the swarm of locust with winds and sandstorms from Pakistan entered Jaisalmer district.”
Gurjar said usually the desert locust cannot fly long distances but the wind helps them to cover large distances.
''If Balochistan fails to control the breeding of locusts by mid-june when the monsoon will arrive in the region, there can be a major threat along the Indo-Pakistan border,'' he added.
The British Government of Imperial India established a locust warning organisation in 1939 with its headquarters in Karachi after the ravages and depredation of the desert locust plague of 1926-1931.
