MALAM JABBA: A fire engulfed the forest range of Malam Jabba and ravaged hundreds of trees, as forest department officials battled to put the inferno out on Saturday, a day after it erupted.
According to locals, the fire erupted due to unknown reasons on Friday. Numerous precious Cedar trees and medicinal plants have been gutted so far. They accused forest department officials for lax action despite multiple complaints of the emergency.
“We appealed to people of surrounding areas for help and tried to extinguish the flames on our own,” said Ihsan Ali, a resident of Malam Jabba.
“The fire is under control and will soon be extinguished completely,” contended Malam Jabba police in charge Nazir Hussain. Charbagh tehsil AC Imran Hussain concurred and said department teams are busy putting the fire out.
Locals blamed forest officials for arriving a day late, when the damage had already been done. They demanded the government form an enquiry committee and take action against department officials guilty of negligence.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 28th, 2014.
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