Prayagraj: Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh became the latest victim of locust attack in India. The attack began on Tuesday night and continued through Wednesday.
A three km wide and one-kilometre long swarm of locusts attacked some areas of Prayagraj after Jhansi in Bundelkhand. The locusts arrived in Prayagraj from the Mirzapur district, before which they were spotted in several villages of Singrauli and Sonbhadra districts between Monday and Tuesday. In the area of Koraon and Meja, various villages were hit by the swarm but no major loss of the crop was reported. The attack began on Tuesday night and were moving westwards and by Wednesday night, wreaking havoc was created in the villages of the Karchana block and almost all of the vegetable farms were emptied by the locusts.
Loud sounds were created with utensils, drums and even crackers by the villagers to drive the insects away. Along with this, the district administration took action with the help of fire tenders by spraying chemicals across the fields.
Block Development Officer (BDO) of the area, Rama Shankar, said, “We pressed three fire tenders into service and have roped in additional vehicles, courtesy local residents, to spray chemicals in fields. Most of the locusts have flown away.”
Several villages, including Dharwara, Madeni Singh ka Pura, Tala, Hathsara and Lohandi have been affected by these insects.
Chief development officer (Prayagraj) Ashish Kumar said, “District officials, village heads and block-level teams had been trained and briefed about what they had to do in case of a probable attack by locusts. As no major crops have yet been planted, no major damage has been reported barring a few patches of vegetable crops. We are keeping a watch on the situation and have a buffer stock of chemicals. All neighbouring districts have also been alerted.”
Meanwhile, many took to social media to share scary videos of the locust attack, dubbing it as the end of the world. Have a look: