BAHAWALPUR: The administration has moved a proposal to the Punjab government for restructuring of the Cholistan Development Authority (CDA), Bahawalpur, to make it an autonomous body so it could better serve the residents of the desert region and act effectively for the protection of its environment.

As per official sources the proposed restructuring has been deemed necessary to remove confusion regarding the CDA’s role, functions and domain of CDA, besides its administrative linkages with other government departments like range management, forest and wildlife.

Presently, CDA’s territorial jurisdiction comprises 6.6 million acres (26,933 square kms) of desert area covering three districts of Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan of Bahawalpur Division.

A source, seeking anonymity, told Dawn that the CDA was established under the CDA Act of 1976.

It is aimed at removing confusion over jurisdiction

He says that despite its significant mandate and jurisdiction, the CDA performance had been below average, largely due to a lack of autonomy, frequent changes in management and other factors.

Furthermore, he says, Section 15 of the CDA Act, 1976 grants the authority the powers to manage various aspects of forestry and wildlife in Cholistan. However, there are also parallel hierarchies vis-à-vis rangeland and wildlife protection in Cholistan – the district forest officer (DFO-Cholistan) for rangeland and deputy director of wildlife for wildlife protection in the desert area, he adds.

The source says that given this concurrent jurisdiction, it is essential to establish effective functional linkages between the CDA and the forest department to ensure that both entities can collaborate seamlessly. But, there has been confusion about whether the DFO should work independently or under the CDA, he says.

As per the administration’s proposal, the CDA restructuring is aimed at giving maximum administrative and financial powers to the authority so that its affairs are run efficiently and effectively at the local level to improve the lives of the residents of this drought-prone region.

It proposes the formation of a committee at the provincial level to deliberate on the issue and devise a plan to resolve it. It also suggests that the proposed committee may comprise Punjab additional chief secretary (ACS) as its convener, secretaries of forest, wildlife and fisheries, and law & parliamentary affairs, representatives from the Punjab Board of Revenue (BoR), Planning & Development Department, Bahawalpur commissioner, and managing director (MD) of the CDA, Bahawalpur.

The issue of jurisdiction got highlighted last year when Punjab’s Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb took stern action against some forest department officials over the illegal cutting of trees and alleged pilferage of trees in Cholistan and Lal Sohanra National Park, as some of its area falls within the boundaries of Cholistan.

Acting on a complaint, the minister transferred 11 forest officials, including the conservator of Bahawalpur division, and in response to another, she suspended from service the DFO of the water management division and some others after a trailer laden with illegally cut trees was caught in the park.

However, responding to the minister’s action, forest department high-ups took the plea that it was not their responsibility to check the illegal cutting and theft of trees. They argued that it was the sole responsibility of the CDA officials to check such illegal practices and nab the culprits, including the government officials involved.

Against this backdrop, the proposal suggesting restructuring of the CDA has been forwarded to thePunjab government to help resolve such issues.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2025