BAHAWALPUR, June 11: Amid withering heatwave, the Cholistanis are forced to shift to nearby green pastures for want of drinking water and fodder for their livestocks.

According to reports received from the vast desert areas, as of now hundreds of families along with their cattle and sheep have left their ‘kachas’ and thatched huts in search of water.

Several ponds and ‘tobas’ in various pockets of Cholistan have dried up due to extreme weather conditions. Some tobas, still with a small quantity of water, are fast losing their water level, creating problem of scarcity of potable water for their permanent inhabitants.

The shifting of a large number of Cholistanis from their homes is an annual feature despite tall claims by government officials of making adequate arrangements for the supply of drinking water to Cholistanis and their animals.

During the current year, as usually a number of schemes aimed at providing drinking water to the people and their livestock are also being completed with an expenditure of millions of rupees. These schemes are being completed with the grants provided by President Pervez Musharraf and the Punjab governor.

TWO KILLED: A man and his son were killed while 11 others received injuries, six of them seriously, when a speeding wagon smashed into a roadside tree at Qureshiwala Morr near Mauza Khairpur Tamewali on Hasilpur Road, about 40kms from here.