E-Paper
HT This Day: August 23, 1952 -- Big locust swarms enter India
Several large locust swarms, measuring 100 to 150 square miles in size, entered India, mostly in Rajasthan, from the west during the fortnight ended August 15, according to information- received by the Directorate of Plant Protection, Central Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
Several large locust swarms, measuring 100 to 150 square miles in size, entered India, mostly in Rajasthan, from the west during the fortnight ended August 15, according to information- received by the Directorate of Plant Protection, Central Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
Almost all the swarms immediately settled down, laying eggs over an extensive area.
Nearly 63.000 sq. miles in Rajasthan are now infested, the districts affected being Bikaner, Sri Ganganagar, Churu, Sikar, Nagaur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Barmer. Breeding took place on a very large scale, heavy egg-laying and fresh emergence of hoppers occurring practically every day in all these districts. There was heavy infiltration of hoppers into the Sri Ganganagar and Barmer districts from the Bahawalpur and Tharparkar areas of Pakistan, respectively.
Hoppers also entered in Hissar district of the Punjab and Bhatinda district of P.E.P.S.U. No report of breeding or swarm movement was received from any other State.
Whereas all possible measures are being taken to permit the least number of hoppers now emerging to acquire wings, control operations against the bands of hoppers reported a fortnight ago have been successfully concluded in U.P, Punjab and P.E.P.S.U. Big-scale aerial and ground operations against swarms as well as hoppers continued in Rajasthan during the period and almost all the hoppers emerging from the first instalment of egg-laying towards the end of July were destroyed in their earlier stages.
Intense locust activity is reported from Pakistan, where big swarms are moving about and breeding is in progress in Las Bela (Baluchistan). Tharparkar (Sind) and Bahawalpur State.
Two swarms, each measuring about three to four miles in length, entered Punjab from Rajasthan during the last two days and invaded Sirsa tehsil in Hissar district, it is reported from Simla.
