Earlier this week, officials had warned of locusts crossing Rajasthan and Gujarat borders and expanding to Vidharba in Maharashtra. Following the alert, the district and agriculture department personnel in Maharashtra initiated chemical spraying on crops and vegetation to save them from the migratory pests.
Since the news broke out of pests moving towards Maharashtra, there have been ample of unverified videos, pictures and messages doing rounds on social media claiming that the locusts have attacked the capital city Mumbai as well.
One of the Twitter user posted a small video showing bugs outside her balcony. The user captioned the post saying, " Guys everybody Mumbaikar be careful shut ur doors and windows #LocustAttack in mumbai Bandra Sion Goregaon Be careful...Please"
Even renowned novelist Shobhaa De claimed that the locusts have attacked the financial capital. Taking to the micro blogging site, Shobhaa De shared a picture of a locust on curtains and said "The locusts have landed! Welcome to Mumbai, locust ji. Feel free to mingle with our political pests."
Though the visuals and messages circulating on social media appear to be worrisome, there have been no confirmed reports of deserted pests attacking Mumbai.
A Hindustan Times report in fact quoted KL Gurjar, deputy director of Locust Warning Organisation (LWO), who clarified that there is no locust swarm heading for Mumbai and that the predators were currently restricted to parts of eastern Maharashtra with districts in Vidarbha.
Meanwhile, parts of Uttar Pradesh and Delhi have been alerted of a probable locust attack following which authorities in national capital on Thursday issued an advisory on preventive measures. The Noida administration is also on its toes and is making all the efforts to spread awareness about the locust attack.