Swarms of desert locusts reach Gurugram

Courtesy: The Gulf Indians
Massive swarms of locusts have reached the outskirts of Delhi after entering Gurugram on Saturday. The Haryana government has issued a high alert notification and convinced the residents that all necessary steps have been taken, including deploying tractor-mounted spraying facilities to fight the locust menace.

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai called an emergency meeting to discuss the situation following the locust attack. The administration has now asked the Gurugram residents to keep their windows closed and to make clanging sounds by beating dhols and drums and bursting crackers to ward the insects off.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Air Traffic Control has directed pilots of all airlines to take necessary precautions during landing and take-off in view of locust swarms seen near the airport area. The central government has set up 11 control rooms to coordinate the response.

The swarm of locusts started around 11:00am. The desert locust had destroyed agricultural crops of many States.