Chairman NDMA
May 26, 2020
ISLAMABAD, May 26 (APP):Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Lt Gen Muhammad Afzal on Tuesday said locust attack in various parts of the country. the Chairman said massive operation was being carried out in four division including Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Bahawalpur and Faisalabad divisions, along with Okara, Bhakar, and Layyah districts.
He said enough stock of pesticides was also available to check locust attack in the country.
He said China had also provided 1,00,000 liters of Malathion and 75,000 liters Lambda, while Japan would provide 50,000 liters Lambda. NDMA had also ordered to procure 1,00,000 liters each of these pesticides to undertake spray against locust, he added.
He said provinces were provided the pesticides as per their demand.
Muhammad Afzal said NDMA has also arranged nine planes for aerial spray in different parts of the country, including Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Spray kits were also imported to be fixed on army helicopters for carrying aerial spray against locust, he said.
He said over 1500 teams were working to carrying out manual spray in various parts
of the country.
He said locust could enter Pakistan from Iran and Muscat in first and second week of the next month and they had already deployed aircraft with sufficient spray equipment and pesticides in Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan and along the Iran border to kill the insect then and there.
Arrangements have also been made to undertake anti-locust spray in deserts of Thar and Cholistan, he said.
The Chairman said six more aircraft were also being added to the air-fleet on the directives of government. The army has placed services of 5000 personnel on NDMA disposal to counter locust attack, he added.