SUKKUR: The Sindh agriculture department has submitted a report in the Sindh High Court (SHC) about locusts, claiming that it had carried out pesticide spray on over 400,000 acres of land to eliminate them.

According to details, a double bench of the SHC at Sukkur comprising Justice Abdul Rasheed Soomro and Justice Amjad Hussain Sahito heard a petition about the damage caused by the locusts in Sindh.

During the course of the hearing, agriculture department director Rasool Bux Junejo, Sukkur Deputy Commissioner Rana Adeel Tassawur and other officers appeared before the court.

The court expressed resentment over non-appearance of the Naushahro Feroze deputy commissioner before the court.

Court expresses resentment over non-appearance of Naushahro Feroze deputy commissioner

Giving remarks, Justice Amjad Hussain Sahito said there were lands of lawyers, rulers and the officers of agriculture department, that was why they should think seriously. He said there would be shortage of food in the time to come and ultimately the inflation would increase if the locusts were not controlled.

Mr Junejo while submitting report in the court gave information that spray of pesticide had been carried out in the desert areas of Khairpur, Ghotki and Sukkur while 57 teams had been constituted for the purpose, which were busy running the campaign of elimination of locusts.

He also submitted in the report that the Sindh government had purchased 24 vehicles and that the locusts had been controlled in many areas.

On the other hand, the Sukkur DC submitted a report in the court about a campaign against dogs in which it was stated that the drive was under way and recently no incident of dog bite took place there.

The court while adjourning the hearing till Feb 19 exempted appearance of the deputy commissioners of districts as well as the director agriculture and ordered for appearance of their focal persons who would submit reports in court.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2020