Murad calls for 'national action plan' to control locust swarms.

KARACHI -- Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Friday said that his government had spent Rs 696.19 million to control the locust swarm but the threat was so serious that there was a dire need to devise a 'National Action Plan' to control the situation.

This he said while participating in Prime Minister Imran Khan's meeting on locust swarm attacks via video link from the CM House.

The PM held the meeting at Islamabad with the chief ministers of all the provinces.

CM Shah, who participated in the meeting through video link, was assisted by Sindh Agriculture Minister Ismail Rahu, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, Secretary Finance Hassan Naqvi, Secretary Agriculture Raheem Soomro, Secretary Food Laiq Ahmed and others.

The chief minister informed the meeting that breeding season of locust, which had settled in the deserts of Thar and Nara, would start from July to December 2020 and during the same period they would breed in Cholistan area of Punjab.

He told the prime minister that the desert locust swarm was reported in Nara desert on May 31, 2019 and he had approached the federal government to initiate ground and aerial spray.

He added that the federal plant protection department initiated ground operation on June 3, 2019.

The CM said that the plant protection department had aircraft but they had no funds to purchase fuel for aerial spray in the desert area of Sindh, therefore he gave them a grant of Rs10m.

He told the prime minister that the provincial government had also released Rs335.095m to provincial agriculture department to purchase vehicles, spray machines, pesticides, fuel and support to field staff. 'Out of Rs335.095 million, Rs209.746 million have been utilised so far,' he said.

Mr Shah also said that Rs16m were released to the deputy commissioners of five...