‘Shut your windows’: Delhi advises people as locusts enter Delhi from Gurugram
District magistrates have been asked to deploy adequate staff to guide villagers and residents to distract the locusts by making loud noise by beating drums/utensils, bursting crackers, burning Neem leaves and other similar measures.
The Delhi government on Saturday issued an advisory to contain the threat of desert locusts in the national capital after swarms entered neighbouring Gurugram in the morning and a small swarm entered Delhi’s South and West districts.
A swarm of locusts at DLF Phase 2 at MG Road in Gurugram on Saturday morning. (HT PHOTO)
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“All district magistrates have been advised to remain on high alert and to cooperate with the district fire department personnel for spraying prescribed pesticides/insecticides,” the advisory said.
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“A small swarm of locusts has entered the Delhi border. South and West districts have been put on high alert. We have also issued advisory to all district authorities to contain the spread of locusts, ANI quoted Delhi minister Gopal Rai as saying.
District magistrates have been asked to deploy adequate staff to guide villagers and residents to distract the locusts by making loud noise by beating drums/utensils, bursting crackers, burning Neem leaves and other similar measures. On May 27, the Delhi government had issued a similar locust advisory.
The government also advised people to keep doors and windows closed and cover outdoor plants with plastic sheets.
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“Swarms usually fly during day time and rest during night. Therefore, should not be allowed to rest during night time,” the advisory said.
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“Swarms usually fly during day time and rest during night. Therefore, should not be allowed to rest during night time,” the advisory said.
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It also advised people to use PPE kits while spraying pesticides/insecticides.
On Saturday, the swarms of locusts, spread across two kilometres, moved from west to east as they entered Gurgaon around 11.30 am, K L Gurjar of the Locust Warning Organisation, the Ministry of Agriculture, told PTI.
Gurjar said the swarms were headed towards Faridabad and Palwal in Haryana.
A swarm of locusts flies over DLF area in Gurugram,Saturday.
The short-horned grasshoppers are known to devour everything in their path, posing an unprecedented threat to food supply and livelihoods of millions of people.
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Over the past few months, locust swarms which first attacked Rajasthan have now spread across many other states including Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana.
In favourable wind conditions, locust swarms can travel 150 km a day
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