KANDHKOT  -   The poor villagers of Kandhkot district have to borne the brunt of fire incidents owing to the negligence and incompetence of District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) and Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).

According to the residents of different areas of the district, fire incidents are on the rise since the start of summer. People, due to lack of awareness, do not adopt precautionary measures to prevent such incidents to happen; and because of the indifference of the DDMA and the PDMA, villagers’ loss in fire incidents is doubled. In most of the cases, villagers have to extinguish the fire on a self-help basis as the fire brigade vehicles of the DDMA and the PDMA reach the site too late despite repeated calls. They usually come when the fire has reduced all valuables to ashes.

Locals say that the authorities ought to create awareness among the masses regarding precautionary measures to prevent fire incidents; as people in villages usually throw lit cigarettes into the pile of dry crops, and they are also unaware of the fire caused by a short circuit. They added that the authorities ought to respond immediately to the requests of villagers when they seek their help for extinguishing fire in their area.