7 dead, 21 injured in 470 tree fall incidents in Mumbai in 3 months

More than 70% of all tree fall cases reported in Mumbai in the monsoon months of May to June were on privately owned land

More than 70% of all tree fall cases reported in Mumbai in the monsoon months of May to June were on privately owned land, where the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) only trims trees if citizens ask them to.

The BMC’s disaster management unit received 470 tree fall complaints over the three months. Seven people were killed and 21 were injured in these cases. Of the 470 cases, 340 tree fall incidents were on privately owned land.

While the BMC, as part of its pre-monsoon work, inspected 1.23 lakh trees across the city, and trimmed more than 80,000 of them, it has been repeatedly criticised by corporators at standing committee meetings, for its policy on taking care of trees on private property. Currently, citizens need to apply to the BMC to get trees on their land trimmed, and also pay the civic body a certain amount of money for trimming and transportation costs. Any society or individual is allowed to cut or trim trees only after an inspection by a junior tree officer. Corporators are now demanding that the administration pay for the trimming of trees in private premises too.

The BMC, however, has maintained that it had done its pre-monsson work. “We not only trimmed trees before the monsoon, but also trimmed more than 8,000 of them during the monsoon to avert accidents,” said Kishore Kshirsagar, deputy municipal commissioner, gardens.