BAHAWALPUR: The Cholistan Development Authority (CDA) has demanded the Punjab government allocate for it 10 vehicles and 15 spray machines for anti-locust operation in the coming months in the desert areas, considered to be most vulnerable for breeding of locusts.

Talking to Dawn on Monday, CDA Managing Director Rana Muhammad Aslam said the Punjab government had recently announced a national action plan (NAP) to combat the locusts across the province but no separate provision of funds for the CDA was mentioned.

The government had announced allocation of Rs500m to launch NAP in the affected areas of the province but the CDA was a separate independent body, which should have been sanctioned separate financial budget.

The Punjab government had been asked to grant vehicles and spray machines to fight locusts in the coming months, which were the most dangerous, Mr Aslam and added that the experts had issued a warning when breeding of the locusts in other parts of the province was going on.

According to his claim, the CDA, during the last years, had been carrying out anti-locust operations frequently in Cholistan with the result the locust had been successfully eliminated from the desert while its adjacent green areas and crops were also protected against the attack.

Mr Aslam further said the seven committees, headed by the assistant commissioners (ACs), were carrying out scrutiny of over 62,000 applications filed with the CDA for allotment of land in Cholistan under chief minister’s package.

He said after submission, all the applications were scanned and its copies were provided to the Punjab Board of Revenue (BoR) and divisional commissioner’s office for records to avoid any sort of fraud to change the applicants’ credentials at any stage in connivance with the government officials.

He said the committees might take three months for completion of scrutiny after which a list of eligible applicants along with the schedule to hear the appeals would be issued by the CDA. The process of the allotment of land might take over six months, he added.

To a question, the MD said the scrutiny committees’ members were free to visit and personally check the credentials of any applicant at their living places.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2020