Rewari: Swarms of crop-destroying desert locusts reached Haryana's Gurugram and Jhajjar, on Saturday.
In multiple videos, shot by residents of Gurugram and nearby villages this morning, thousands of locusts can be seen covering the sky.
Last evening, the residents were asked to keep their windows and doors shut by the city administration as a swarm was sighted at Mohindergarh.
In addition to that, the administration also asked the residents to beat utensils to ward off the insects by the clanging noise.
The farmers ran to their fields to save their crops as soon as they received the news.
Adopting the indigenous method of burning smoke in their fields, the farmers left no stone unturned to stop the swarms from settling in their fields.
Apart from issuing the alert, the administration has provided no help to us, told farmer Nitin.
According to an agriculture officer, all necessary preparations have been made. "We are waiting for the swarms to settle in so that we can start spraying insecticides," added the officer.
To take stock of the situation, state Agriculture Minister J P Dalal visited Rewari and enquired from villagers and officials about the damage caused by locusts.
Talking to ETV Bharat, Dalal said Mahendragarh, Bhiwani, Jhajjar and Rewari districts had been put on alert on Friday itself.
About Rewari district, he said 15 fire tenders, besides several tractor-mounted spray facilities were pressed into service during a night-long operation, which was carried out and personally monitored by Deputy Commissioner Yashendra Singh.
Dalal said even experts from the central government who visited Rewari to take stock of the situation had appreciated the timely measures taken by the district administration.
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He also said that while the locusts are air-borne there was not much that could be done and measures are taken only after they have settled down on trees and in fields.
A month ago too Haryana had issued a high alert after locust swarms had attacked crops in neighbouring Rajasthan and a few other states, but luckily the insects had moved away from the state.
Earlier in January, locusts were spotted in some villages in Punjab's Fazilka and Muktsar districts but were effectively contained then.
Locusts, popularly known as ''tiddi dal'', are short-horned grasshoppers with highly migratory habits and voracious feeding behaviour.
With PTI inputs
