After 28 years, Jaipur suffers major locust attack; 2,500 hectares of land ruined

Jaipur: After destroying crops in Rajasthan's Pakistan bordering areas, a large swarm of locusts has now reached the capital city of Jaipur. On Monday morning, several areas of Jaipur district including Vidyadhar Nagar, Murlipura were under locust attack.

Rajasthan's struggles with the locust problem continues as the swarms have entered several villages in Jaipur district almost 28 years since the last time. Earlier in 1993, the locusts had completely ruined harvest crops in Jaipur district. 

This time it has already destroyed more than 2,500 hectares of land while the state agriculture department has claimed pesticides have been sprayed on around 530 heactares of land which are now locust-free. 

In the rural areas of Jaipur, locust has reached Dausa after wrecking havoc at Kishangarh-Renwal via Ajmer and Nayla. They are now moving towards the Madhya Pradesh border. 

This was just one swarm, there are atleast 3-4 more groups. They move with the direction of the wind and so are most likely to arrive in Jaipur in the coming weeks. Vegetable crops have suffered the most due to locust attack. 

Earlier, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Kailash Chaudhary had criticized the Ashok Gehlot-led government in the state for the locust outbreak. He said that, the central government is active in getting the farmers out of the path of locusts but the state government remains inactive in the matter.

The Minister said that the people of Rajasthan are currently suffering a double blow; both the locust problem and the coronavirus epidemic.