Hyderabad, June 17 (PTI) Border districts in Telangana prone to locust swarm attacks were asked by the state government on Wednesday to form steering committees and formulate a micro-level planning for the vulnerable villages in view of expected possible invasion by the insects.

The instruction was issued by state Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar during a meeting he held with the Collectors, police chiefs, officials of the fire service and other departments of nine districts which are likely to affected by the locust menace, an official release said.

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The meeting was held days after Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao instructed officials to be on high alert as there may be a possible attack of locusts swarms in the state as the insects had come near Telangana recently.

The swarms, which had entered the country last month in three phases in the worst invasion in years, came up to Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

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An inventory should be created which would identify the human resources, material and equipment available in the villages. A village level team should be created and all the stakeholders should be involved. Special officers should be appointed in each mandal, the release said quoting Kumar.

He told the collectors to work proactively in close coordination with neighbouring districts and ensure preparedness to deal with the locust attack by keeping stock of spraying material, safety kits, lighting arrangements and other paraphernalia.

He directed the agricultural department to prepare an advisory consisting of standard operating procedures to be followed by the districts.

Scientists made a presentation on movement of locust and suggested controlling measures, it said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)