Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah seeks Centre’s help against impending locust attack

KARACHI: The Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, has once again approached Prime Minister Imran Khan for emergency assistance against the looming threat of the locust attack.

The Sindh CM has raised red flag in a letter to the prime minister on Saturday about a massive locust attack expected around May 15th.

Murad Ali Shah that on March 6th, he had asked for prime minister's attention towards fumigation campaign against the advancing locust. But, he said despite assurance no cooperation has been extended to the province so far.

Citing the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization forecast, the Sindh chief minister said that the locust attack this year would be much harsher as compared to the last year.

Shah warned that the crops in the province could come under massive damage if the spray campaign was not started in the province immediately and said he urgently needed six aircraft. He said that the federal government must show seriousness in tackling the locust threat.

It is worth mentioning here that the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari while speaking at a press conference on Friday in Karachi had blamed that the federal government for not discharging its constitutional obligations with regard to the locust swarms. Bilawal had said that the centre has so far no undertaken any emergency measures and failing to do so timely could have repercussions on country's food security situation. He said that after coronavirus the looming locust attack had emerged as the second biggest emergency in the country related to food security.