Concerned at the spate of attacks on crops by swarms of locusts in neighbouring areas of southern Punjab bordering Rajasthan, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to direct the Union Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian High Commission in Islamabad to immediately take up the issue with the government of Pakistan, from where the pests are originating.
Capt. Amarinder, in a letter to the Prime Minister, said there has been a sustained attack of locusts on crops in Rajasthan recently.
Breeding areas
A significant number of these pests have also entered into the neighbouring areas of southern Punjab.
“Although Rajasthan has been taking the required action to control the attack, the best method of control is to manage the breeding ground itself, which incidentally falls in the adjoining desert area of Pakistan,” he wrote, emphasising the need to take up this issue directly with the government of Pakistan and impressing upon them to take effective steps to sanitise the breeding areas of these locusts.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, which is mandated to control locusts internationally, may also be asked to take effective steps in Pakistan to control breeding, the Chief Minister wrote.
