Mithi:A meeting was held under the chairmanship of deputy commissioner Tharparkar Muhammad Nawaz Soho at Darbar Hall Mithi in which Director-General of Agriculture and Research Council Sindh Dr Attaullah Khan, Major Khanzada of Pak Army Badin Cantt, Additional Deputy Commissioner Tharparkar apart from Kabir Shah, Assistant Commissioner Nagarparkar, Mithi and Chhachhro, Additional Director Agriculture Idrees Rind and other concerned officers participated.
Briefing the meeting on the occasion, the DG Agriculture and Research said that due to the presence of locusts in Nagarparkar and Dahli talukas of Tharparkar district, modern and powerful spray machines had been installed in both the talukas to eradicate locusts.
The DG said that they had already set up 12 shopping centers in Thar, out of which 10 were established in Tharparkar district and two of them in Umerkot district where live or dead locusts would be purchased from the area people at the rate of Rs 15 per kg. “Ten social organizations/ NGOs have also been hired which will provide assistance to the district administration and agriculture department for the eradication of locust scourge,” he added. He said that centers would be set up in Chhacchro, Mithi, Dahli and Islamkot talukas.
He said that the process of purchasing would commence from July 1, 2020. DC Tharparkar Mohammad Nawaz Soho while addressing the meeting told the officers that the presence of locust had posed a serious threat to the crops and fodder of cattle, so eradication of locust was very important and the strict measures were needed for the purpose. No negligence will be tolerated and strict legal action will be taken against the negligent officers, he added.
The deputy commissioner directed all the assistant commissioners to personally supervise the ongoing spray work for locust infestation in their respective talukas and submit a report to his office on a daily basis. The area people, as well as the farmers, whose crops were ravaged last year when contacted, deplored that last year when trillions of the insects had repeatedly attacked their crops and grasses for more than six times no remedial measures were taken by both federal and the provincial governments.