Pakistan

IMC, wildlife board draft standard procedures

Memorandum submitted to federal ombudsman for review

Our Correspondent July 19, 2018

Margalla Hills. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: With wildfires ravaging the Margalla Hills earlier this year, the local government body and the wildlife board of the capital have teamed up to draft a set of standard procedures to tackle the fires.

Islamabad Municipal Corporation (IMC) and the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) on Wednesday submitted to Federal Ombudsman Tahir Shahbaz a memorandum of understanding, signed between the corporation and the board, on controlling fires in the Margalla Hills.

Shahbaz has been chairing a committee set up by the Supreme Court which had taken notice of the wildfires in the Margalla Hills, some of which required help from the military to put out.

Reserved for nature: WWF says Margalla Hills national park land needs demarcation

In the agreement, the IMC and IWMB detail the standard operating procedures (SOPs) to control and handle future fire incidents in the hills, including operational plans, liaison mechanisms, training of staff and other such measures.

Accountability and incentives are special features of the SOPs, the meeting was told. The MoU also covers measures for the preservation of Margalla Hills National Park.

The committee will now examine the MoU and submit its report to the apex court, along with its recommendations.

Besides the IMC chief metropolitan officer and IWMB president, representatives of the Justice Commission of Pakistan, the Attorney General’s office, Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) attended the meeting.

With rising temperature: More wildfires erupt on Margalla Hills

The committee had been tasked by the SC to probe the causes of incidents of fire, identify deficiencies in the system to control the fires in the minimum possible time and, in this regard, prepare a set of SOPs and recommend measures to prevent recurrence of such incidents of fire.

During its previous proceedings, the committee had examined the report prepared by IMC in consultation with the Capital Development Authority (CDA), the Islamabad Capital Territory Administration (ICTA) and the NDMA.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2018.