PM, his cabinet responsible for locust attacks: Bilawal

KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the federal government has failed to take adequate and required steps to check the imminent attack of locust swarms in Sindh and other provinces as clouds of locusts have landed in different parts of the country and are destroying crops.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the PPP chairman said he had repeatedly warned the federal government of the threat of locust attacks to the economy but the Centre took no measures, after which the country’s agriculture had come under the severe locust onslaught, which might cause a dangerous blow to the national economy that had already been reeling due to the coronavirus emergency.

Bilawal said the failure of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led federal government to protect the growers and crops from the locust attacks despite having chances to take advance efforts was an unpardonable criminal negligence and Prime Minister Imran Khan and his entire cabinet must be held responsible for the situation. The PPP chairman said time and again he and his party leaders were raising the issue and stressing the implementation of the National Action Plan decided by the federal and provincial governments to ward off the locust threat.

He said the required number of planes were not hired to control the swarms heading towards the meadows from borders as it was the duty of the plant protection department of the federal government to take measures for destroying locusts at the entry points. “Now, the reports about the attacks of locusts in Khairpur, Sukkur, Sanghar, Nawabshah, and several other parts of Sindh as well as in other provinces are pouring in. Standing crops and matured fruits are being destroyed by locusts while the poor growers are looking at the ravages helplessly.”

Bilawal appreciated the Sindh government for taking steps on its own, including hiring planes for aerial spray against the locusts, though it was the responsibility of the federal government to conduct sprays and provide the required chemicals to the provinces for sprays on the grounds.