Two days on, forest fire rages on

Hundreds of trees, animals brunt to ashes in Kahuta forest blaze

KAHUTA:

Hundreds of precious trees and animals burned to ashes in the fire which broke out in Forest No. 61, Banjar in Kahuta in the last two days.

Rescue 1122 firefighters reached the spot to put out the blaze and they were busy extinguishing the fire till the filing of this report.

Sources said that the fire engulfed pine trees and shrubs in different parts of the forest covering an area of ​​over 200 of kanals. They added that the fire has been raging in the forests of Kahuta and nearby areas, but officials of the forest department are too busy to pay attention to this important issue.

Brigadier (retd) Javed Satti, a prominent socio-educational figure of the area, plays a vital role in saving these forests. Wherever there is a fire, he reaches there by himself along with school children.

A prominent figure in the area, Brigadier (retd) Javed Ahmed Satti, is the one who makes efforts to save forests. Whenever there is a fire, he along with his schoolchildren reach the site.

He had a meeting regarding the forest fire on Wednesday. Speaking on the occasion, he said that officers of the forest department are busy with Iftar parties and they don’t care about forests. He added that despite bringing this matter to the notice of Rawalpindi commissioner and other high officials, nothing was done to save these forests.

Kahuta Tehsil Zakat Committee Chairman Inayatullah Satti, who with the help of Brigadier Satti and the locals is busy controlling timber and forest fires, said that with the cooperation of the department the timber mafia cut down trees and destroys the forests by setting them on fire.

“Summer has not come yet. If nothing is done to protect these forests, even a little bit of forest will be destroyed," he added.

When asked, Kahuta Assistant Commissioner Seemal Mushtaq said that she had a meeting with the officials of Karot Hydro Power Project in which he was briefed about the forest and a biodiversity plan was formulated in this regard.

Under the plan, officials of the Karot Power Project were asked to provide all necessary equipment, firefighters, volunteers on contract bases, motorbikes, vehicles to save the forest from fire immediately, she said, adding that a committee has been formed in Lahore in this regard and she herself is the member of the committee. “I have given them many suggestions to deal with the forest fires right away.”

The assistant commissioner said that she met the forest department officials and issued instructions to them.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 28^th, 2022.