Air Force deploys two choppers to contain locust invasion near Jodhpur

Jodhpur: The IAF on Sunday (July 5) deployed two MI-17 helicopters for the first time in an anti-locust operation and eliminated swarms of insects settled over a four-square-km area in Osian sub-division of Jodhpur by spraying pesticides.  The Indian Air Force deployed its helicopters laden with pesticides early on Sunday on a request by the Jodhpur district administration and sprayed the chemical over a huge swarm of locusts which had landed in Bheekamkor village in the sub-division on Saturday.

Before the IAF helicopters took the anti-locust sorties, the officials had marked the affected area on the ground with red flags to help chopper pilots identify the exact location. It was for the first time that the IAF came to the rescue of the Locust Warning Organisation with an indigenously developed mechanism to spray pesticide. The swarms of locusts have been consistently invading Jodhpur for the past two months.