Locusts appeared in Gurugram, Dwarka, Palwal in Haryana were leftover swarms which escaped control operations in Rewari in Haryana, and these swarms regrouped three smaller swarms are moving towards different parts of Uttar Pradesh, an official statement from Ministry of Agriculture said here on Saturday.
According to the statement, locust swarm was first noticed in Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan on Friday morning and reached Rewari by evening. While they were there, Locust Warning Organisation (LWO) officials together with their counterparts from the State undertook control operations till early Saturday morning. However, not all the pests were not destroyed by the operations, leading to some of them regrouping into three splinter groups.
While one swarmlet moved towards Gurugram and from there via Faridabad to neighbouring areas of Uttar Pradesh. The second splinter group of locusts, though spotted briefly in Dwarka, moved towards Daulatabad, Faridabad and to UP districts. The third moved towards Palwal and headed further towards UP, the statement said.
The Ministry said State agricultural departments in Rajasthan, Haryana and UP and local administration officials together with LWO officials are tracking their movement to launch further control operations as they settle for the night. More locust control teams from Rajasthan have moved to Haryana and UP to help in control operations, the statement added.
Earlier in the day, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai convened an emergency meeting to discuss the situation following the sighting of locusts in neighbouring Gurugram. The meeting was attended by senior officials of the State agricultural department as well as district magistrates from South Delhi and West Delhi.
Residents in many parts of Gurugram on Saturday woke up to rustles of locusts as locusts descended on Delhi’s satellite city in huge numbers. According to officials, the swarm spread across two kilometres and moved from west to east towards Faridabad and Palwal.
Though these migratory pests are regular visitors to the Thar desert, this year their arrival was at least two months in advance. According to UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) officials tracking the transborder movement of these locusts right from East Africa, India could expect several waves of locusts this year with favourable weather conditions, aided further by climate change.
In May, India battled a devastating desert locust outbreak. The crop-destroying swarms first attacked Rajasthan and then spread to Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
The desert locust is considered the most destructive. It multiplies very rapidly and is capable of covering 150 kilometres in a day.
A type of grasshopper, locusts can eat more than their body weight. One square kilometre of locust swarm contains around 40 to 80 million locusts, and they can eat in a day food that is enough to feed 35,000 people.