The state government will use drones to spray pesticide in a bid to curb locust menace afflicting farmers in over 8O villages of Banaskantha. Talking about the means used to control locusts, Deputy Director of Locust Warning Organisation, Faridabad, Dr KL Gurjar said, "We are working collectively with the state government. We are mounting spray system on tractors and 11 teams are already in the field to control locust. As per our estimate, the swarm of locusts is limited to 2 km by 10 km area. We are planning to use drones on a trial basis to curb menace." To help the state government, six more teams of experts from Centre joined the five teams already operational in the state. Four more teams will arrive by today afternoon. Interestingly, on Wednesday Gujarat BJP President Jitu Vaghani, Member of Parliament, Banaskantha, Parbat Patel and Congress MLA from Tharad Gulabsinh Rajput could be seen banging steel plates to keep locust away in a barren farmland. Talking about the efforts being made, district agriculture officer PK Patel said, "We have borrowed 20 pumps from farmers to disseminate the locust control medicine manually. The affected areas mainly comprise of wheat, castor and cotton crops." Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Wednesday accused the Opposition Congress of indulging in vote bank politics by misleading farmers on loan waiver and crop insurance schemes of the state government. Distributing assistance to farmers in Vadodara, on birth anniversary of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee which is celebrated as good governance day, Rupani said his government has announced a compensation package of Rs 3,795 crore for crop loss due to unseasonal rain, which would cover over 56 lakh farmers. Such a package is unprecedented in Gujarat, he claimed. During the event, the chief minister distributed financial aid to affected farmers from the districts of central Gujarat, including Chhota Udepur, Narmada, Bharuch and Vadodara. "Congress misleads farmers on the issues of loan waiver and crop insurance for vote bank politics," Rupani said. He also assured that water would be provided for the Rabi season crops from check dams and rivers. "The Gujarat government is committed to make farmers prosperous and will give them power, water and remunerative prices for their crop. Prior to 2000, total farm production in the state was worth Rs 4,500 crore, which has now gone up to Rs 1,40,000 crore," he said. He also accused the Congress of misleading people on a host of other issues such as the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and creating unrest in the state. Source - https://ahmedabadmirror.indiatimes.com