ISLAMABAD, May 24: The Emergency Relief Cell (ERC) of the cabinet has demanded over Rs1 million from the Capital Development Authority (CDA) for providing helicopter service to extinguish fire on Margalla Hills, sources in the CDA told Dawn on Friday.

The cell refused to provide helicopter service on Friday, when fires erupted at two places on the hills. The ERC asked the CDA to pay the outstanding dues for continued helicopter service.

They asked the CDA to give an assurance that it would pay the outstanding dues otherwise the service will be suspended.

In response the CDA sent a letter to the ERC on Friday, assuring the cell that it would pay the outstanding dues. It also requested the ERC to continue its service in the current season.

The ERC, who has a fleet of five helicopters, spared two of them to extinguish the fires. The helicopters made 103 trips in their effort to extinguish the fire.

On one occasion helicopters made 11 trips the second time they made 19, followed by 17, 11, 25 and 30 trips.

On Friday, two helicopters made 15 trips each, the highest number in this season.

The ERC had already sent a bill amounting to Rs0.2 million last year, which the CDA did not pay.

When contacted, a senior CDA official said the ERC was set up for rescue operations and emergencies, and it appears that it does not consider this as an emergency.

A senior ERC official told the CDA official that the cell wanted to sent the bill so that the CDA avoids calling them for help.

The secretary interior ministry Tasneem Noorani called a meeting of the CDA officials and directed them to prepare a comprehensive plan for taking fire preventive measures.

Director general environment Imtiaz Ilahi and director environment (rural) Mazhar Hussain were present in the meeting.

The CDA chairman Mir Laiq Shah visited Margalla Hills to inspect the fire fighting operations. It was his first visit to the hills where some 45 big and small fires have broken out in the current summer.