Darkness at noon in Faridabad, Gurugram as locust swarms descend

Guided by favourable winds, marauding swarms of locusts descended in Gurugram, Faridabad and adjoining parts of the national capital, alarming residents of fast growing cities.

The locust swarms had traveled from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan, where they were first noticed on Friday morning, prompting state authorities to launch pesticide spraying operations to control their forward march.

The locust control operations were largely successful, but some leftover swarms re-grouped and reached Rewari in Haryana, about 100 km from here.

Already alerted about the movement of the swarms, locust control operations were carried out all through Friday night which divided the swarm into three groups which descended in Gurugram and Faridabad in Haryana and parts of Dwarka and Chhatarpur localities of the national capital.

Many residents of the localities shared videos of the swarms, which almost turned the afternoon sky dark by their huge numbers. Swarms were seen settled on trees, rooftops and even some high-rise buildings in the industrial townships adjoining the national capital.

The immature swarms of locusts are ravenous eaters who target food crops, trees or anything green. A one square kilometer swarm comprises 80 million locusts and are capable of eating food consumed by 35,000 people in a single day.

The swarms moved towards Palwal further south-south-east of the national capital and were expected to move towards Aligarh-Hathras in Uttar Pradesh.

The Locust Warning Organisation under the Agriculture Ministry has been tracking the swarms and carrying out control operations through the night when the pests settle down after dark.