Rains in the desert region are known to result in an exponential growth of locusts. The minister said the provincial government was trying to hire aircraft to spray insecticides on 25,000 acres, mainly in desert areas. He claimed that the PPD had a fleet of several aircraft but it had not provided any aircraft to the provincial government to help with the anti-locust operation. He said China had provided 25,000 litres of insecticides to the federal government, and claimed that nothing out of it had been supplied to Sindh. He disclosed that the Sindh government had released Rs330 million for the locust control programme last year, but the relevant department had spent only Rs181 million.
The failure of the Sindh agriculture department to spend the allocated amount and the delay by the Centre in providing a helping hand show inefficiency at both levels and the laid-back attitude of the officialdom. One hopes the minister’s allegations are not part of the ongoing war of words between the Centre and Sindh.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 15th, 2020.
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