Swarms of locusts blanket India’s national capital region — pilots and airlines alerted ahead

• On June 27, swarms of locusts were seen in several parts of Gurugram and on the Gurugram-Dwarka expressway near the Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi.
  
• The Delhi Air Traffic Control (ATC) also directed pilots and airlines to take the necessary landing and take-off precautions.
  
• The Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai has now called for an emergency meeting to tackle the situation.
  
• A square kilometer of locust swarm containing around 40 million locusts can eat as much food as 35,000 people would in a day.
  
• This is a first for Gurugram, the city has never been through a locust attack before.

On June 27, swarms of locusts were seen in several parts of Gurugram and on the Gurugram-Dwarka expressway near the Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi. The Delhi Air Traffic Control (ATC) also directed pilots and airlines to take the necessary landing and take-off precautions. "Pilots of all airlines have been warned about the locust seen near the airport, we have set up a team to monitor in view of the locust," a senior ATC official told ANI.


The Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai has now called for an emergency meeting to tackle the situation. "After the emergency meeting, an advisory will be issued on steps to be taken to deal with the situation," Rai said. The officials from the agriculture department are now being asked to visit the areas near to Gurugram.

The dark clouds of locusts covered several parts of the national capital region today - including Rajendra Park of sector 5, Surat Nagar, Dhanwapur, Palam Vihar, Maruti factory in sector 18, DLF phase 1 and other places in old and new Gurugram, IANS reported.


This insect, which is more of a grasshopper, can eat more than its actual body weight. A square kilometer of locust swarm containing around 40 million locusts can eat as much food as 35,000 people would in a day.

According to PTI, the district administration has issued guidelines for the residents, asking them to stay indoors. The residents in the affected areas are now speaking through the loudspeakers to keep the locusts away. "The swarms moved from west to east. They entered Gurugram around 11.30 am," K L Gurjar of the Locust Warning Organisation, Ministry of Agriculture, told IANS.

However, the locust clouds are reportedly approaching South Delhi now.


This is a first for Gurugram, the city has never been through a locust attack before. The locust attacks first happened in May this year. The desert locust outbreak destroyed crops - spreading across Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The state administrations are now using special vehicles and fire engines to spray insecticides across the northern part of India.

Previously, it has happened in remote areas of Gujarat.

With inputs from PTI