CHITRAL, Feb 7: The tehsil municipal administration has suspended the services of four firemen for absence from duty when a house caught fire an and destroyed it. Fire brigade was called, but nobody turned up.

Earlier, three shops in the local bazaar were gutted because the fire brigade's vehicle had no water in its tank.

The local police have registered a case against the personnel concerned for negligence of duty. They filed the case only after the traders union reacted strongly to the accident and local MNA Maulana Chitrali approached the provincial minister for local government and called for action against the firemen.

People blamed the negligence of the TMA for the accidents an took out a procession and held a protest rally to condemn the administration. They demanded that the government should take a strict action against the personnel concerned.