Wildfire destroyed hundreds of acres of forest land in Haripur

HARIPUR: The wildfire destroyed trees at hundreds of acres of forestland in hilly area of Makhniyal in Khanpur Tehsil and the high pressure of wind is feared to cause more damage to the forest as the vast area was still under heavy fire, area people said on Sunday.

“Hundreds of mature trees and small plants at 70 percent of the forest area both reserved and private have been reduced to ashes and the rest of the area would be burnt if the emergency measures were

not taken,” said Mateen Abbasi, a youth councillor from Neelan Bhoto village council.

Sharing some pictures depicting the situation of fire, Abbasi said that the fire started four days back in his area and was still wreaking havoc to the green gold of forest burning down both reserved and guzara (private) forest.

He said that Khariyan, Banth, Ariyala and a couple of other forest areas were still on fire and the volunteers were engaged in putting out the wildfire but to no avail as the flames were billowing and the fire was travelling to neighbouring areas at a fast pace with the blowing winds.

Fayaz Mughal, the office-bearer of Makhniyal Tahfuz Movement, said that the fire started from compartment 11 and 12 of Pakshahi forest area and engulfed the entire area and despite repeated messages to Deputy Commissioner Haripur, Assistant Commissioner Khanpur and officials of Forest department, no effective steps were taken due to which 80 percent of the forest area in Hally Village Council, VC Muslim Abad, VC Barkot and VC Neelan Bhoto have been on fire for the last four days.

Malik Amjad, another office-bearer of Makhniyal Tahaffuz Movement confirmed that the wildfire had destroyed their majority forest land in the Dana Feroz, Komal Gali, Makhniyal, Pir Sohawa and Khariyan forest areas and accused the Forest Department and district administration of poor response.

Meanwhile, Sub Divisional Forest Officer, Makhniyal, Zohaib Khan confirmed that the fire started from an unknown point in the Margalla Hills and due to heavy winds it reached the forest area of Haripur.

He said that there was 25,000 acres of forestland in his area, but there were only 50 officials and volunteers engaged in putting out the inferno.

He said that currently there were two private forest areas called Neelan Bhoto and Pakshahi where the fire was still causing destruction and his staff and volunteers were struggling to put out the fire.

He said that his department has taken precautionary measures and built a fire line to protect the area but due to heavy winds the wildfire crossed the fire line and caused damage in Haripur.