PAKISTAN NOT COOPERATING WITH INDIA IN FIGHT AGAINST WORST LOCUST ATTACK
NEW DELHI, June 27
Despite the fact that Pakistan is facing its worst ‘Locust-Terror attack’ since 1970, it has stopped cooperating sharing information on the movement of Locust swarm with Indian government ‘without giving any valid reason’.
The Locust Warning Organisations (LWOs) of India and Pakistan have been jointly fighting Locust commonly-known as Tiddi and preparing a common strategy against ‘Tiddi-attack’. Even during the warlike situations, LWOs have warmly met on a monthly basis along Indo-Pak International Border, and shared their information so as to quarantine Locust swarms.
But this is probably for the first time during the past 50 years that LWOs have not met for the past three months. And this period was very crucial to device a common strategy against Locust. The LWO meeting in Munabao used to be a win-win situation for both countries as they were fighting a common enemy, admitted a senior officer of the Agriculture Ministry.
“We had wonderful repo with Pakistan LWO and used to prepare a joint common strategy to fight against Locust-Terror….We do not know why the similar warm feeling is missing this time and they turned a cold shoulder this time,” he said.
If senior officers of the Agriculture Ministry are to be believed, Pakistan’s Locust plague is as big the problem as Covid-19 in Sindh, Baluchistan and some parts of Pakistan’s Punjab as it may pose a serious threat to Pakistan’s food security.
Actually, first-generation Locust swarms are formed in Sudan, Ethopia, Kenya, Yemen and Oman, and then it enters into South West Pakistan from Iran. After destroying crops in Sind and Baluchistan, it flies into Gujarat and Rajasthan where it lays eggs and forms third generation swarms.
Though they have been entering India through Pakistan almost every year, the numbers were very insignificant and were controlled in Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and Barmer region only. It hardly went beyond this region. But This year the situation is very grim, a month ago some swarms entered into parts of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Haryana.
“Government managed to control it efficiently. We pressed vehicle and tractor mounted sprayers and also took the help of fire brigades to control it. We would also manage to control the present swarm entering some parts of Gurgaon and going towards Agra and Bulandshahr in UP at the rate of 150 kilometers per day,” said a senior officer of Agriculture Ministry requesting anonymity.
“There is no denying the fact that we would have controlled it faster and managed to contain its spread had Pakistan authorities cooperated. Yet we are confident that we would be able to contain,” he said. Considering the seriousness of the situation, the Agriculture Ministry has already ordered 5 hi-tech CD Atomizer kits with GPS Trackers for aerial sprayer capabilities from Europe to control and quarantine it, he said. These kits would be fitted into helicopters of the Indian Air force to control the desert locust swarms.
In a joint operation so far Centre and states governments have already quarantined nearly 1,20,000 hectare areas at about 1,000 locations during the past three months. Similar operations would continue till October-November, the officer said.
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