New Delhi: Stepping up efforts to control the spread of crop-damaging locust swarms mostly prevalent in northern India, the Union Agriculture Ministry on Thursday said that 15 sprayers will be procured from the UK in a fortnight and plans are afoot to deploy drones and helicopters for the aerial spray of pesticides.
There was no information of entry of any new locust swarm on Thursday from Indo-Pak border areas, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said, adding that control measures are in full swing in close coordination with state agriculture departments, local administration and Border Security Force (BSF).
As on date, there are some active swarms of immature locusts in Barmer, Jodhpur, Nagaur, Bikaner, Suratgarh, Dausa districts of Rajasthan, Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh and Rewa, Morena, Betul, Khandwa districts of Madhya Pradesh and Nagpur and Amravati districts of Maharashtra for which the control operations are in progress, the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement.
Reviewing the locust control operation with Agriculture Ministry officials, Mr Tomar said, “The government is concerned about the issue and is dealing urgently with the situation.”
The Centre is in close touch with the affected states of Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra and an advisory has been issued, he said.
To ensure adequate machines are made available to states for effective control of the swarms, the minister said, “15 sprayers will start arriving from Britain in the next 15 days. Besides, 45 more sprayers will be procured in a month or one-and-a-half months.”
“Drones will be used to spray pesticides on tall trees and inaccessible places for effective control of locusts, while plans are afoot to deploy helicopters for aerial spray.”
Already, two firms have been finalized through tender for use of the drones for spraying pesticides, he added.
A committee under the chairmanship of the Additional Secretary of the Agriculture Department has been constituted to procure services and goods for spraying insecticides through drones and airplanes.
Mr Tomar further said 11 Regional Control Rooms have been established and special contingents have been deployed along with additional manpower to check the spread of locusts.
“He assured the affected states will be allocated additional resources and financial aid if required,” the statement said.
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