By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: The National Locust Control Centre (NLCC) has declared Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa free from locust.
According to a statement released by NLCC, the locust is now only present in Lasbella district of Balochistan and Tharparkar district of Sindh.
The statement further said anti-locust survey and control operations are in progress and 232800 hectares area was surveyed in a day.
During the last 24 hours, about 232,800 hectares area was surveyed, with the control operation carried out on 20 hectares of Lasbella district of Balochistan and 1137 hectares of Tharparkar district of Sindh.
The control operation had been completed on 1,113,076 hectares of land across the affected areas in the country during the last six months, reads the press release by NLCC.
It said during the next 24 hours, swarms migrations were expected from Rajasthan and Gujarat (India) towards Southern and Central Punjab, and Southern Sindh.
The expected migration and subsequent settlement from Gujarat and Rajasthan (India) had the probability to reach Mithi or Nagarparkar (Tharparkar), Nara (Khairpur), Salehpat (Sukkur), Khangarh and Dharki (Ghotki), it further added.
There was a possibility that the swarms would reach Liaqatpur (Rahim Yar Khan), Ahmadpur East (Bahawalpur), Chishtian (Bahawalnagar) and Pakpattan. But this is just a possibility, the NLCC said.
It is pertinent to mention here that Prime Minister Imran Khan on July 10 granted approval to Phase-II of the National Action Plan for Locust Control to eradicate the menace of ravenous pests posing risk to the country’s food security.
