As the locust menace continues, the Centre on Tuesday said control measures to stop the spread of the crop-threatening pest have so far been carried out in about three lakh hectare area across nine States, including Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. India has been battling with the locust problem since April.
In its latest update, the Agriculture Ministry said swarms of immature pink locusts and adult yellow locusts were active in Barmer, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Jhunjhunu, Sriganganagar, Alwar and Churu districts of Rajasthan.
They were also active in Bhiwani and Mahendragarh districts of Haryana, while in Sitapur and Gonda districts of Uttar Pradesh, it said.
The control measures are still continuing and were carried out in 33 places in three states -- Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana -- in the past two days, it added.
From April 11 to July 12, the ministry said the control measures were taken in about 3 lakh hectare, which includes those in 1.60 lakh hectare across nine states -- Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana -- by locust circle offices (LCOs).
The control operations in the rest of the 1.36 lakh hectare area in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Bihar were carried by state governments, it added.
