KARACHI: Decrying a lack of support from the Centre to tackle locusts attacks, the Sindh government has decided to register a strong protest with the federal government over the issue. Sindh Minister for Agriculture Ismail Rahoo said swarms of locusts have entered Sindh and Balochistan from the neighbouring countries of India and Iran. “Locusts will prove more dangerous than coronavirus,” he cautioned. He said the provincial government has been informing the Centre about the locusts attacks for a year but in vain. Ismail Rahoo noted that 60 per cent of the country’s rural population that relies on agriculture will suffer if locusts are not eliminated. Earlier, a high-level meeting of the provincial government was informed that new swarms of locusts from Iran could enter Sindh from May 15. Chief Secretary Mumtaz Ali Shah chaired the meeting to review the locust situation in the province. Around 60 countries across the world have been affected by the attacks of locusts, the meeting was briefed. The government has established camps at 30 places and constituted 57 teams comprising 180 persons to tackle the threat, it was further informed. The officials of Sindh Agriculture Department and Plant Protection Department part of these teams.
