ISLAMABAD: Seasonal fires continue to rage in the Margalla Hills despite the deployment of 300 personnel in the hills to fight and put them out.

Throughout Sunday, thick smoke could be seen rising from a massive fire at a location called Makhnial falling in the jurisdiction of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa about 12 kilometres from Islamabad.

The distant peak is one of the highest points in the Margalla Hills National Park which is supervised by the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI).

300 personnel deployed in the hills fail to extinguish flames

Director Wildlife MCI Rana Tahir said the fire in Makhnial, which was on a massive scale, was less likely to reach the Margalla Hills falling in Islamabad.

He told Dawn that 10 pickets had been set up and staff deployed on ground and prepared to tackle the flames if it reached the jurisdiction of the capital city.

Forest fires in the Margalla Hills have been seen since June 4. On Friday and Saturday, the peaks behind Faisal Mosque were seen burning on two spots.

The MCI believed that the fires in the Margallas were caused by the summer heat in the months of May and June and also caused by local villagers.

Two months ago, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) joined hands to control growing incidents of forest fires at Margalla Hills National Park.

Both the organisations signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish seven fully equipped fire stations in the national park.

Spreading over 12, 605 hectares, the Margalla Hills National Park witnesses many fires every year. However, during the last few years, bigger and more frequent fires have been reported which damaged trees and plants besides adding to the air pollution and rising temperature in the capital.

The NDMA had said besides destroying the green character of the national park the frequent fires in the recent past have caused considerable damage to the flora and fauna in the hills.

The issue of frequent fire incidents on the hills was also taken up by the Supreme Court which later referred the matter to the federal ombudsman.

In pursuance of the direction of the apex court in June 2018, the federal ombudsperson held meetings with the Capital Development Authority (CDA), NDMA, MCI, Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) and the Ministry of Interior and suggested measures to prevent the fires.

It was recommended that the MCI, CDA, IWMB and NDMA should work together to develop standard operating procedures to ensure coordination in order to avoid such incidents.

The ombudsman office had directed the MCI to equip its pickets on modern lines along with deployment of sufficient staff to control the fire incidents.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2019