Home Minister reviews situation as locust swarm returns to distt
| Date :01-Jun-2020 |
Anil Deshmukh, Home Minister, inspecting the locust damage to vegetation in a village in Katol tehsil.
Staff Reporter/ Kondhali Correspondent :
Anil Deshmukh, Home Minister of Maharashtra, visited the villages where locusts damaged the crops in Katol tehsil of the district. He asked the officials of Agriculture Department to initiate necessary steps to protect the interests of farmers. Recently, locusts attacked the crops and vegetation in different parts of Vidarbha.
In Nagpur district, locusts damaged the crops in several villages in Katol tehsil. On May 30 (Saturday) night also, locusts damaged crops in Kachari Sawanga, Sonpur, Ganeshpur, Shekapur and other villages in Katol tehsil. After getting the information in this regard, Deshmukh paid a visit to these villages late in the night. Agriculture Department officials accompanied Deshmukh. Farmers showed him the damaged crops and half-eaten leaves of trees on the boundaries of farms. After taking stock of the situation, Deshmukh asked Agriculture Department officials to take necessary steps to protect the interests of farmers. “Take steps to see that fruit, vegetable, and other crops suffer the least damage,” he said.
The Home Minister also asked the farmers and villagers to make loud noise of band, firecrackers etc and also create smoke to save the crops from locusts. The locust swarm even attacked the Teak trees in the nearby forests and left not a single leaf on these trees. The locusts had attacked crops in Katol and Narkhed tehsils on May 25. Later, Agriculture Department had pressed into service four fire tenders and tractors to spray pesticides on trees laden with locusts.
This had drive away locusts. However, on May 30, the locust swarm returned to Bhorgad, Kedarpur, Ladgaon, Sabkund, Panchdhar, Mendhepathar, Ganeshpur, Maraksur etc. After another round of spraying, the locust swarm left these villages. On Sunday, it was stated that the locust swarm fled towards Bazargaon forest. Shrikant Umbarkar, Sub-Divisional Officer; Ajay Charde, Tehsildar; Sunil Sane, Block Development Officer; Nilesh Kadam, Naib Tehsildar; Suresh Kannake, Tehsil Agriculture Officer; F R Azmi, Range Forest Officer; Pratik Pawale; Chandrashekahr Kolhe, Zilla Parishad (ZP) member; Chandrashekhar Chikhale, former Vice-President of ZP; Tarkeshwar Shelke, Chairman of Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee; Sanjay Dangore, Rashtrapal Patil, Satish Chavan, Swapnil Vyas, Sanjay Raut, Akash Gajbe, Nilesh Dubey, Nitesh Thawale and others accompanied the Home Minister during his visit.
The locust swarm attacking a farm in Tishti area in Kalmeshwar tehsil on Sunday.
Locusts attack crop in Tishti area on Sunday
Kalmeshwar Correspondent :
The locust swarm attacked crops in Tishti area in Kalmeshwar tehsil on Sunday. The crops attacked included vegetables, orange, mosambi etc. The locust swarm attacked the area around 12 noon. Before attacking the farms in Tishti Bujruk area, the locust swarm had damaged the crops in Tidangi, Dadhera etc. The farmers were alarmed when they saw locust swarm in the sky. Before they could take steps, locusts attacked orange, mosambi, brinjal and other vegetable crops. Some farmers tried to drive away the locusts by way of bursting firecrackers or beating drums, or burning dry waste. However, many farmers said that their efforts proved to be inadequate in driving away locusts before they damaged the crops. The farmers have sought relief from Agriculture Department.