Telangana government ready with micro-level planning to deal with locust swarms: Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar

Hyderabad: Telangana government has prepared a micro-level plan to tackle locust menace in case the swarms enter the State. State Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar on Wednesday held a meeting with nine district collectors, police, fire, forest and agricultural officers of districts which are likely to be affected by the locusts.

Reports says that the swarms may attack the nine border districts of Telangana anytime. The chief secretary stressed on the need to have a micro-level planning for the vulnerable villages of the bordering districts.

He also said that an inventory should be created which would identify the human resources, material and equipment available in the villages. A village-level team should be created and all the stakeholders should be involved.

Special officer should be appointed in each mandal. Similarly, a district-level steering committee should be constituted, the chief secretary said. The official also instructed the collectors to work proactively in close co-ordination with neighbouring districts and be prepared to deal with the locust attack by keeping the stocks of spraying material, safety kits, lighting arrangements and other paraphernalia ready.

He directed the agricultural department to prepare an advisory consisting of standard operating procedures to be followed by the districts. Scientists made a presentation on movement of locust and suggested controlling measures. State DGP Mahender Reddy and other top officials were also present.