HARIPUR: Unknown miscreants on Sunday set on fire the forests of Union Council (UC) Beetgali Tehsil Ghazi Haripur.
According to details, several miles of forests on the hills of UC Beetgali were burned to the ground along with rare types of birds and animals in the north of Haripur.
Locals told media persons that besides destroying the precious forests, the fire also killed rare species of wildlife, including Grey Goral, Black Partridge, Grey Partridge, Chakur Partridge, See-see Partridge and others.
The locals tried to extinguish the fire but failed to control the raging flames. Sadly, no provincial department concerned had bothered to show up in the area to address the issue. The locals said that the fired started two days ago around the hills of Beetgali UC, which increased the temperature of the surrounding areas and endangered the rare species of wildlife and the people.
Locals further said that though the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government was spending millions of rupees on advertising plantation drives, still no official of the provincial forest department bothered to visit the affected area and make efforts to save the existing jungle from the fire.
Unfortunately, incidents of forest fires have been on the rise in Hazara district, where people either set these precious natural resources ablaze to settle personal disputes or commit mistakes which lead to such disaster.
