'70% locusts in Sirsa eradicated, remaining fly away to Rajasthan'

HISAR: Most of the swarm of locusts that had descended on various parts of Sirsa district on Saturday evening has been eradicated, while the remaining migratory pests headed back towards Rajasthan on Sunday morning, officials said.
Sirsa deputy commissioner Ramesh Chandra Bidhan said although almost 70% of the swarm was eradicated and the rest had also left, people need to stay alert and watch out for such swarms.
The administration is also alert and wherever locust swarms are spotted by the agriculture department teams, those would be eradicated, he assured.
On Saturday evening, a huge locust swarm had spread over Rangri Khera, Shahidanwali, Mangala, Madhosinghana and several other villages of the district. After this, an eradication operation, led by the deputy commissioner and SDM Jayveer Yadav, continued till late into the night.
Bidhan said 10 teams have been formed for the task. Apart from this, there are 50 tractor-based pumps and 12 fire brigade vehicles to support them in the anti-locust operations.
Meanwhile, Haryana's power, jail and renewable energy minister Chaudhary Ranjit Singh on Sunday visited various villages of his Rania constituency and talked to farmers there about the locust swarm attack.
The minister also visited the fields and inspected the Narma cotton crop. He told the farmers not to panic and assured them that they would not be allowed to face any problems.