ISLAMABAD, Jan 14: A huge fire erupted on the Margalla Hills Wednesday damaging flora and fauna of the area.

The cause of the fire could not be ascertained but apparently it was lit by people living in the Sanduri Guzara village.

Usually fires break out in the Margallas in summer but it was the second such incident in the current winter.

“The fire that erupted in the morning has been extinguished but it is difficult to ascertain its cause at night,” Capital Development Authority Director General (Environment) Dr Suleman Sheikh told Dawn.

He said there could be different reasons for a fire in summer but in winter it was usually set by people living on the hills to get better grass for their animals that grow on the gutted portion.

According to a study conducted by the CDA, over 100 fire incidents occurred on the hills in every summer that destroyed a vast green area.

Few years ago, the World Bank had conducted a study revealing that there was no natural reason for fires on the Margalla Hills and all the flames so far erupted there were man made.

The study said the fires were caused by cooking on the hills, throwing of burning cigarette buds or match sticks intentionally or unintentionally, and to cover theft of timber. It recommended that at least one helicopter should be allocated for regular watch and to control the fire on the hills.

A source said some parts of Margalla Hills fell in the periphery of the NWFP and the provincial authorities were taking no step to control the fires.

The CDA and the NWFP had chalked out a joint strategy a few years ago to avoid eruption of fire but both the administrations failed to control such incidents.

A CDA official said some 26 unauthorised villages existed on the hilly area whose over 10,000 population survived on firewood. However, the CDA staff did not allow them to uproot even bushes from the forest.

“The clash of interests between the CDA staff and the villagers was one of the causes of fire because sometimes the villagers intentionally threw burning material into the bushes to create trouble for the CDA staff,” he added.

He said the forest staff of the CDA consisted of 200 locals who have both friends and enemies in the area. “Sometimes their enemies set bushes on fire to score a point,” he said.