Locusts unlikely to hit Mumbai, say experts

The swarms of locusts entering Maharashtra have played on the minds of Mumbaikars as many of them frantically called journalists and friends on Thursday afternoon seeking to know if the insects had attacked their localities A resident of Matunga had sent out a message to friends stating Locusts have reached Mumbai entered houses in Goregaon and MaladThe resident also attached a 20 seconds video to show a desert locust captured inside a flat and sealed in a plastic bagB N Kumar a mangrove activist and resident of Koparkhairane Navi Mumbai contacted this journalist inquiring if there was a locust attack in Mumbai as social media was getting flooded with messages Kumar said My daughter was asking and I told her it could be a rumourThis journalist also received a video apparently taken from a highrise along the Eastern Express Highway as claimed in the WhatsApp forward that showed hundreds of swarming insects suspected to be locustsWho captured the videoWith the intention of getting the facts midday contacted P K Lahale Superintendent Agriculture Officer Konkan Division and shared the video and pictures for confirmation He said We have never heard of locusts coming to Mumbai before however to confirm the authenticity of the picturesvideo Vikas Patil our Joint Director Agriculture Konkan Division along with Ankush Mane Superintendent Agriculture Officer Thane district visited the locationVikas Patil left Ankush Mane extreme right with the residents of a highrise along the Eastern Express HIghwayMane Superintendent Agriculture Officer Thane district said We spoke to the security guards and some residents in a highrise residential complex at the given address Though residents admitted to having received the videos on social media they could not come across any eyewitnesses or zero in on any resident from the building who said heshe captured the videoWe have checked the photographs and video and the insects are locusts However we have not been able to confirm the source of the video that was claimed to have been taken from the said highrise by the EEH Moreover none of the residents from the building whom we had approached were witness to the same explained Patil Joint Director Agriculture Konkan divisionPatil further added We had also checked the geographical movement of locusts from Gujarat via Palghar area but we were informed that there was no such movement in the area However when I contacted Dr Vinayak Jalgaonkar a senior entomologist he said the locusts in the video might have been lost from a larger swarming group and might have been following the wind direction Also the video has captured them at a height which clearly indicates that they were not going to settle anywhere but were simply flying Therefore there was no large swarming or geographical indication that could have helped us trace the origin and also the direction where they flewWont settle in MumbaiDr Vinayak Jalgaonkar senior entomologist Regional Agricultural Research Station RARS Karjat said I can say the video and pictures are of locusts and they might have lost their way from a larger swarming group and might have just passed by The video also shows mangroves below and the fact is that locusts cannot settle on mangrovesA locust nest on a mango tree in Bhandara districtBrihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC Insecticide Department head Rajan Naringrekar speaking to midday said Soon after we learnt about the pictures and video being circulated across social media of locusts entering Mumbai our ward officials from various areas viz Juhu Goregaon Aarey Ghatkopar and Vikhroli inspected the locations and found that there was no trail of locusts in the said areas Moreover Naringrekar added We are at present experiencing premonsoon SouthWest winds and locusts cannot fly against the wind direction Also they are following a pattern which was seen in select places of Amravati Nagpur and Bhandara Also with no food around locusts will never settle in a city like Mumbai which has more structures than farms Besides we have not even got an alert from any agenciesLocusts headed to Madhya PradeshHindurao Chavan District Superintendent Agricultural Officer Bhandara said On Wednesday a little after 6 pm we found a swarm of locusts of nearly two km periphery each km has around 8 crore locusts around Timani village Tunsa taluka around 50 km from BhandaraThe locusts were seen sitting on teak mango lemon trees etc and the district administration had arranged for two fire brigades and tower lights to tackle them The spraying of insecticides was started at 10 pm and continued till 630 am on Thursday We found nearly 60 to70 percent of the locusts were dead said Chavan He also added Initially we were anticipating they would go to Gondia and the government machinery there was on high alert The swarms crossed Bavanthadi river and went in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh Our staff in the border area are alert and vigilant to see if the locusts reenter our 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