Six Jhajjar villages come under locust attack, crops destroyed
Farmers say they were prepared, but insects took just 20 minutes to devour their entire cotton, bajra crops; state agriculture minister JP Dalal visits affected areas for inspection
ROHTAK/KARNAL:HUGE swarms of locusts entered around half a dozen villages in Jhajjar on Saturday and damaged up to 100% crops in some areas.
Sachin Kumar, a young farmer from Khudan village, said locusts entered their fields from Rewari’s Jatusana block on Saturday morning and damaged their crops and fodder.
“Though we were prepared to tackle the menace, the insects took just 20 minutes to destroy my entire bajra , cotton and jawar crops. We had never witnessed such an attack in our lives. The government should compensate us,” he added.
The insects had settled in Jatusana block on Friday night where the local administration supervised the operation of spraying chemicals in order to kill the short-horned grasshoppers, which tend to cause widespread crop damage with their voracious feeding behaviour.
Haryana agriculture minister JP Dalal also visited Jatusana block on Saturday morning and inspected the affected areas.
18 FIRE TENDERS WERE ALSO PRESSED INTO SERVICE
“Our officials, with the help of local farmers, had managed to kill one-third of locusts on Friday night in Jatusana block. As many as 18 fire tenders were also pressed into service to spray chemicals on these insects. We can eliminate these insects only when they settle in the night. We were expecting that the locust will move from Rewari to Jhajjar and then leave for Uttar Pradesh via Panipat. But due to change in wind direction, these insects moved to Gurugram, Faridabad and then towards Uttar Pradesh,” the minister added.
A day earlier, swarms of locusts had entered as many as 36 villages in Mahendergarh district and some areas of Rewari, leaving the farmers worried.
Jhajjar deputy commissioner Jitender Singh said the locusts had moved towards Gurugram from Jhajjar. Crops were not damaged on a large scale, he added.
GOVT FAILED TO STOP LOCUST ATTACK, SAYS FORMER CM HOODA
Criticising the government’s role in managing the situation, leader of opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda said they (government) failed to stop the locust attack despite being alerted about the same six months ago.
“The government has not taken enough measures to stop the insect attack. It should conduct special drives to assess the crop losses and compensate the farmers,” the former chief minister added.
ALERT SOUNDED IN PANIPAT
After locust swarms entered the southern districts of Mahendergarh, Jhajjar and Sonepat, an alert was sounded in Panipat on Saturday.
Farmers of the district have been advised to remain vigilant as locusts are expected to enter the district, especially the Samalkha and Israna blocks, by Saturday evening through Sonepat.
Panipat DC Dharmendra Singh has advised farmers to use utensils and drums to drive away the locusts.
He has directed officials of district agriculture department to ensure the availability of the insecticide ‘chlorpyrifos’.
“Farmers should be ready with their tractors mounted with chemical sprayers as locusts may settle on trees at night,” the DC said.
Swarms of locusts can travel up to 150km per day and eat every bit of greenery on their way.