Thousands of crop-eating desert locusts were on Saturday spotted in Gurugram, a city next to the national capital of Delhi.

News agency ANI tweeted clips of the pests flying over Sector 5 in Palam Vihar of the city and in areas along Gurugram-Dwarka Expressway.

On Friday, locust swarms had entered as many as 36 villages in Mahendergarh district and some areas of Rewari in Haryana.

The Jhajjar administration also was on high-alert, anticipating an attack by the short-horned grasshoppers, which tend to cause widespread crop damage with its voracious feeding behaviour.

Narnual sub-divisional officer (agriculture) Harpal said that the locusts entered Mahendergarh through Rambas and Dhancholi villages on Rajasthan border.

The agricultural department’s officials said fresh swarms of locusts came to Rajasthan from Pakistan and entered Mahendergarh villages.

Locusts have affected five states including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The Centre has asked states to step up aerial spray using drones and helicopters.

The desert locusts are known to devour everything in their path, posing an unprecedented threat to food supply and livelihoods of millions of people.

An adult locust can eat quantity equal to its weight daily, and just a single square kilometre of the swarm can contain up to 80 million adults.

Locusts can fly up to 150km daily and a one square km swarm can eat as much food as 35,000 people in terms of weight in a single day.

HT