The Forest Department has spent Rs 2.5 million on digging 27 new ponds and de-silting another 13 in the Cholistan desert. Water ponds are lifeline for humans and animals of Cholistan desert, sprawling over 6.4 million acres of land in Bahawalpur division, Pakistan Television reported. At the moment little water was left in big ponds, while small ponds had already gone dry due to lack of rains. During dry spell the inhabitants of area migrate to adjacent areas where they could get fodder for their cattle heads and goatherds. Drought compels them to leave the area temporarily every year. Three perennial irrigation canals passed from the northern side of Cholistan, which were Bahawal, Haakra and Abbasia canals. The Forest Department was planting 50,000 saplings on its own land in Cholistan, popularly called Rohi, while another 150,000 plants would be grown by private persons during the current year. The Cholistan Development Authority was working on a number of water programmes worth billions of rupees to set up turbines on the bank of canals for sweet water, the most prized commodity of the desert. This fit-for-drinking water was supplied to remote areas of the desert where there were human inhabitants. Copyright Associated Press of Pakistan, 2008