The Sindh High Court sought on Thursday a detailed reply from the Sindh government on a plea pertaining to locust attacks and crop destruction across the province. A two-member bench, comprising Justice Omar Sial and Justice Zulfiqar Ali Sangi, asked petitioner Mureed Ali Shah whether the locusts attacked all kinds of crops.At this, the petitioner confirmed that the insects posed a threat to all types of crops, adding that after Tharparkar, Sanghar and Ghotki, locust swarms had now reached NausheroFeroze district.“What are the federal and Sindh governments doing to control the attacks?” the court inquired. The Sindh govt submitted a report to the court on the matter and the public prosecutor told the court that it had sprayed insecticides in different districts, including Ghotki, Sanghar and Sukkur. Besides, the govt had released Rs310m for locust control, he added. At this, the court asked if the entire amount was utilised for spraying just 34,000 acres of land. It further questioned the provincial government’s focal person about who owned the 2,000 acres of land sprayed in Sukkur, remarking that only small farmers suffered during such crises. Saying that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) could be assigned the investigation into the use of funds released for locust control, the court sought a detailed reply on the funds’ expenditure and owners of the sprayed land, warning that if the reply wasn’t satisfactory, the matter would be referred to the NAB.
