‘Tiddi dal’ reaches Jhansi, other UP districts in region on alert

Jhansi/Lucknow, May 27: After attacking crops in Madhya Pradesh, a swarm of locusts reached Jhansi district on Wednesday, an Uttar Pradesh official said.

Other districts in the region are also on alert.

Locusts struck the district last week as well, but they authorities said that they eliminated half of that swarm with the help of local people.

The latest swarm was spotted in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh's Datia district.

Anticipating its arrival, the Jhansi administration had already deployed fire brigade vehicles loaded with pesticide.

The locusts reached Skill village in Garautha tehsil around 4.30 pm and efforts were on to drive them away, Jhansi division's Deputy Director (Agriculture) Kamal Katiyar told PTI.

The swarm is spread over an area of about one square kilometre, he said. Insecticide is being sprayed, he said. Farmers have been advised to play loud music to deter locusts. “A relatively small swarm of locusts was also spotted in Datawali village under the Samthar police station area, Katiyar said.

Locusts had earlier attacked some parts of Jhansi district on May 22 and 24.

Taking cognisance of the problem, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has directed district magistrates of districts bordering other states to take appropriate measures to deal with the menace.

Instructions were issued to DMs of Jhansi, Lalitpur, Agra, Mathura, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Mahoba, Banda, Chitrakoot, Jalaun, Etawah and Kanpur Dehat.