SH ANGLA: The residents of Besham tehsil on Wednesday demanded fire brigade and Rescue 1122 service in their area to provide emergency care to the people needing immediate medical treatment.

Besham located along the Karakorum Highway is a major business centre in Shangla district but has no fire brigade facility.

Naib nazim of Butyal H village council Said Mohammad Zada told reporters here that recently, a fire destroyed a car in the main Besham Bazaar though the local residents made every effort to douseit.

He said had there been a fire engine, the car would have been saved from destruction.

The naib nazim regretted most development projects for the district went to Alpuri.

He also said three fire engines were provided to Alpuri but there were none for Besham.

Besham Trade Union president Hamidur Rehman said in 2014, a huge fire destroyed everything in a large Besham hotel.

`Four hours after the fire broke out, a fire tender showed up from Battagram district. The firefighters took three hours to control the fire but by then, the goods valuing millions of rupees were lost,` he said.

Member of the youth jirga Fazal Illahi said every district in the province had Rescue 1122 service but unfortunately, Shangla was an exception.

He said Rescue 1122 service helped efficiently handle manmade and natural emergencies to save lives but in its absence, the local residents dealt with such situations on selfhelp basis.

When contacted, Alpuri tehsil nazim Mohammad Tahir said his government was trying to establish a tehsil municipal administration for Besham and once it happened, fire brigade would be established in the area.