ISLAMABAD: Showing concerns over frequent fire incidents on Margalla Hills, the federal ombudsman on Tuesday directed the Ministry of Interior to call a meeting of all agencies to streamline measures to prevent the incidents.

The ombudsman, Syed Tahir Shahbaz, issued the direction after hearing representatives of all the agencies at a meeting.

Spread over 12,605 hectares, the Margalla Hills National Park witnesses anumber of fire incidents every year.

During the last a few years, bigger and more frequent fires were reported which damaged trees and plants besides adding to air pollution.

The ombudsman showed serious concern over the lack of coordination among the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI), Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB), Ministry of Interior and other agencies to control the incidents.

He also stressed the need to improve the reporting mechanism for fire incidents.

Previously, in pursuance of the orders of the Supreme Court dated June 25, 2018, the ombudsman held a series of meetings with different agencies and made recommendations and suggested measures to prevent the fires.

According to a press release issued by the ombudsman office, it was recom-mended that the MCI, CDA, IWMB and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) should worl( together to ensure coordination to avoid such incidents.

The Ministry of Interior was directed to hold a monthly meeting of all the agencies and submit a report to the ombudsman secretariat.

`It was also recommended that MCI would equip its pickets on modern lines to control incidents of fire along with presence of sufficient staff and submit a report.

Senior Adviser Hafiz Ahsaan Ahmed Khokhar briefed the meeting on recommendations and the earlier decisions taken by the ombudsman.

The representative of MCI informed the meeting that two weeks ago three incidents of fire had occurred which were extinguished by the MCI staff.He said 400 employees had been recruited for the 32 pickets.

The official also told the meeting that two vehicles had been given by the NDMA to meet the emergency situation on the hills.

The ombudsman said the MCI had to share a report of every incident with other agencies and the ombudsman secretariat as well but no report was shared with any agency.

The IWMB complained that the MCI had not taken it on board, therefore, it had no information about the incidents.

The ombudsman showed concern over the casual attitude and poor coordination of MCI with the other agencies.

He directed the MCI to submit reports of three recent fire incidents by Thursday.

He also directed the MCI to get a shortcode helpline so that the citizens could have an easy access to it.