Islamabad: CDA fails to control Margalla Hills fire

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Fazal Sher
ISLAMABAD: Capital Development Authority’s (CDA) Environment Wing, despite having a huge infrastructure, failed to control fire that erupted at Margalla Hills on Thursday causing a huge damage to flora and fauna of the area till Friday evening. The fire broke out due to unknown reasons, but unskilled staff of Environment Wing failed to control it, a CDA official told Daily Times. He said the fire spread to large area and burned a number of trees and bushes. He said CDA always remained clueless about reasons of fire or about the people responsible for it, which was the main reason of increasing incidents of fire at Margalla Hills. The official suspected that timber mafia sets the fire after cutting the trees to eliminate traces of their crime. The official said if CDA was interested in saving the environment it needed a strict action against those who set the Margalla Hills on fire. According to a study conducted by the CDA, over 100 fire incidents occur on the hills every summer that destroys a vast green area, he said. He said few years ago, the World Bank had conducted a study revealing that there was no natural reason for fire on Margalla Hills and all the fires so far erupted were man made. The study said cooking on the hills, throwing of burning cigarette butts or matchsticks intentionally or unintentionally and fire to cover theft of timber were the main causes of fire incidents, he said, adding, the study recommended that at least one helicopter should be allocated for regular watch and to control the fire on the hills, he said. “Tension between CDA staff and the villagers is another cause of fire because sometimes the villagers intentionally threw burning material into the bushes to create trouble for the CDA,” he added. Environment Wing Director General Suleman Shaikh told Daily Times that the CDA team had controlled most part of the fire and they would fully control it within next few hours. He said difficulty in approaching the affected area due to thick forest and height of hills were creating trouble for rescue teams to control the fire. He said they had prepared a comprehensive strategy to cope with any incident of fire at the hills. Shaikh said the strategy comprised preventive measures, early detection and quick response through a communication network.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg11_6