BAHAWALPUR: The swarms of locusts that threaten crops and vegetation in Bahawalpur division have entered the parts of Cholistan from the Indian side of the desert -- Rajasthan.

This was claimed by Punjab Agriculture Department Director Jamshed Khalid Sidhu while talking to Dawn here on Sunday.

The director maintained that these swarms of locusts posed no threat inside Cholistan as a massive anti-locust operation was being carried out in the desert areas under the government’s instructions.

He claimed that before these swarms could move forward to the green areas bordering the desert and harm standing crops cultivated there, the agriculture department mobile teams were destroying these voracious insects.

These teams, along with the vehicles and pesticides provided by the federal plant protection department were spraying and destroying locusts, he added.

The director claimed that the cultivated areas were safe from the locusts plague also because these were situated far away from the Pakistan-India border.

He claimed that due to the anti-locusts operation the swarms would either retreat back to Indian side or be destroyed by mobile teams spraying pesticides there.

Mr Sindhu said the anti-locusts operation would continue round the clock till the threat subsided.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Shozeb Saeed said the locusts spotted in parts of Cholistan had entered Pakistan’s territory near the Bijnot (about 80km away from Bahawalpur) point at the border, adding there was no need to panic as “we are ready to destroy them with the ample stocks of pesticides.”

The DC said the district administration, along with the Cholistan Development Authority (CDA) and forests and wildlife department, was vigilant and keenly monitoring the locusts swarms movement to ensure these insects could not move towards the cultivated areas near the desert boundaries.

The locusts swarms were first spotted in Lasbela district of Balochistan and then in parts of border areas of Umerkot and Mithi in Sindh.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2019

Opinion

Editorial

New terror wave
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

New terror wave

The time has come for decisive government action against militancy.
Development costs
27 Mar, 2024

Development costs

A HEFTY escalation of 30pc in the cost of ongoing federal development schemes is one of the many decisions where the...
Aitchison controversy
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

Aitchison controversy

It is hoped that higher authorities realise that politics and nepotism have no place in schools.
Ceasefire, finally
Updated 26 Mar, 2024

Ceasefire, finally

Palestinian lives matter, and a generation of orphaned Gazan children will be looking to the world community to secure justice for them.
Afghan return
26 Mar, 2024

Afghan return

FOLLOWING a controversial first repatriation phase involving ‘illegal’ Afghan refugees last November, the...
Planes and plans
26 Mar, 2024

Planes and plans

FOR the past many years, PIA has been getting little by way of good press, mostly on account of internal...