BAHAWALPUR: The district administration, in view of the possibility of comeback of the locusts in the region, has started making preparations to avert the possible attack of the insects across the district, including the desert of Cholistan.

Deputy Commissioner Shozeb Saeed chaired a meeting of the officials of the departments concerned, particularly the revenue, agriculture and Cholistan Development Authority (CDA), here on Saturday.

According to a handout, the meeting took stock of the latest situation and sought updates from the departments. It examined the measures, which could be taken beforehand to repulse the locust invasion in the coming days.

The Cholistan desert, it may be recalled, had been the hotbed for the locust swarms’ breeding and attack during July and August of the last year and January and February of the current year. The government departments had attributed these frequent attacks by insects on the Pakistan areas to their influx from the Indian Rajasthan across the border.

The DC directed the departments to launch a strict surveillance campaign of the areas, where the locusts had perished during the previous months and asked them to be prepared to take prompt action to kill the locusts whenever they received reports of the attack. He instructed them to submit a detailed report on the availability of the heavy machinery, including spray machines and insecticides.

Agriculture director Jamshed Sindhu told Dawn the meeting was held to move the officials to meet any eventuality, especially in the prevailing circumstances when the country was in the grip of the Covid-19. He denied there was any imminent danger of the locusts’ attack in any area in the division and that the meeting was held in the backdrop of review the preparations to combat the locusts. He made it clear that the agriculture department was already prepared and its field staff was vigilant about any migration of locusts.

Mr Sindhu ruled out any reports of breeding of the locust in the cultivated areas of the Bahawalpur division. He said that during the meeting, each government department briefed the participants on their respective survey reports made by its field staff members.

CDA focal person on locusts Imtiaz Lashari told Dawn that under the instructions of the Punjab Development and Planning (P&D) department, the authority was already alert and keeping an eye on the reports of the movement of locusts in the desert, which was still clear of the menace.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2020