Rajasthan battles worst locust attack as swarms enter residential areas in Jaipur
Along with the COVID-19 pandemic and Cyclone Amphan, India now fights the biggest locust attacks in 27 years. After invading states such as Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, swarms of locust have rushed towards agricultural farms and residential areas in Rajasthan.
On Monday (May 25), residents in Murlipura and Vidhyadhar Nagar areas of Jaipur woke up to a terrifying sight of locust swarms sitting on their terraces and gardens. Many people were seen beating ‘thalis’ at the locusts that settled over walls and trees, hoping to make them move away.
Locust Ataack in Jaipur ? pic.twitter.com/QWHfOXasvf
— Akanksha? (@art_lover_09) May 25, 2020
The crop-eating locusts pose a massive threat to the agricultural economy of the country as crops in several areas of the states have been destroyed by the invasion. In Rajasthan, the locusts usually attacked the western districts of the state, but this year, the swarms have traveled to the Jaipur city. Now they are headed towards the Dausa district. The desert locusts have already ruined the crops spread over 5,00,000 hectares of land in the state, mostly in the western and eastern parts of Rajasthan.
#WATCH राजस्थान में टिड्डियों का प्रकोप अभी भी जारी। कल देर रात जयपुर के ग्रामीण इलाके में टिड्डियों ने दस्तक दी और आज सुबह जयपुर शहर के कई इलाकों से गुजरती हुई दौसा की तरफ निकल गई। pic.twitter.com/PgDrKGtKmJ
— ANI_HindiNews (@AHindinews) May 25, 2020
Lalchand Kataria, Rajasthan Agriculture Minister conducted a field visit and met the farmers. The director of agriculture department also informed that 200 teams are working in the field to monitor the movement of locusts and around 800 tractor-mounted sprayers are being used to tackle the situation.
RELATED NEWS: Madhya Pradesh fights biggest locust attack in 27 years, UP on alert
The fire department is also involved in the operations against locusts swarms. Till now, the swarms have covered almost 54,000 hectare area in the state and the containment operations were conducted in 40,000 hectares of area.
