Agriculture Minister flags off helicopter service for locust control through aerial spray

Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister, Narendra Singh Tomar, on Tuesday, flagged off helicopter services for locust control through aerial spray. The helicopter will be initially stationed at Air Force Station at Uttarlai, Barmer, and deployed for locust control in desert areas of Barmer, Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Jodhpur, and Nagaur.

Tomar assured that the government is in full preparedness to deal with the problem and deployment of spraying machines, vehicles and manpower has been increased and Centre is working in close coordination with the states for locust control.

According to a government statement, the Bell 206-B3 helicopter will have single-pilot operation and has a pesticide carrying capacity of 250 litres in one trip and can cover about 25 to 50 hectare area in one flight. An Empowered Committee finalized the firm for deploying one helicopter for aerial spray in the desert area after getting all the clearances from aviation regulator DGCA and Ministry of Civil Aviation.  

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Measures to combat locust menace

Narendra Singh Tomar said the Centre and State governments have worked in coordination to effectively control the locust menace.

"Deployment of machines, vehicles and manpower has been increased and concerned states are utilizing SDRF funds to tackle the problem. Drones have been used for the first time for locust control and today aerial spraying of insecticides with the use of helicopter has also been launched," the minister said.

Tomar informed that order has been placed for five aerial spraying machines from a UK-based company, and once these are received, they will be deployed in Indian Air Force helicopters and pressed into operation for locust control. The first two kits are to be delivered in September and the rest three kits, one month after the successful commissioning of the first kit.

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60 control teams, 200 personnel

Presently major strategy of locust control is through 60 control teams with spray equipment mounted vehicles and more than 200 Central personnel are engaged in such operations in states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Locust Warning Organization (LWO) and ten Locust Circle Offices (LCOs) of the Centre are situated in Rajasthan (Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Phalodi, Barmer, Jalore, Churu, Nagaur, Suratgarh) and Gujarat (Palanpur and Bhuj), who primarily monitor, survey and control desert locust in two lakh square kilometre 'Scheduled Desert Area' of Rajasthan and Gujarat.

For effective control of locust beyond those areas, temporary control camps of LCOs have been established in Jaipur, Ajmer in Rajasthan, Shivpur in Madhya Pradesh, Fazilka in Punjab and Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh.

(Image courtesy: Twitter/@nstomar)

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