24 April,2024 09:25 PM IST | Mumbai | Apoorva Agashe
The banyan tree that had collapsed/ Rajesh Gupta
Two persons in Mulund were injured after a tree fell on them following which they wrote a letter to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation regarding the cutting down of the tree. However, it has recently come to light that the BMC had much earlier permitted to trim the tree and it was not.
The incident happened on March 29 when Hitesh Saste (30) and Tanvi Kale (28) were passing on their bike when a tree collapsed on them severely injuring them.
Mid-day accessed the letter which stated that a private entity had written a letter to cut down the tree in 2018 since it was dangerous; however, the BMC permitted only the branches of the tree to be cut.
A BMC official on condition of anonymity revealed, "Near Jay Bharat college, there was a huge banyan tree and we had granted permission for it to be trimmed in 2018 and it was done so twice. It was in good condition after that but it suddenly collapsed since it had rotten from inside."
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"The tree fell when my sister and her friend were travelling; both were trapped under the tree for over 30 minutes. The locals rescued them and took them to a hospital. When we inquired, they said that a letter had been written to BMC requesting permission to cut down the tree but none was granted," said Saurav Kale, Tanvi's brother. He added, "My sister is unable to walk properly and a month on, she's still in the hospital. Such incident would not have happened had the bMC given the permission to fell the tree."
Meanwhile, Hitesh Saste, speaking to mid-day, said, "We both got injured in the incident; I injured my spine. I am worried for Tanvi given the mounting medical bills and impending major surgery." Hitesh added that the Kale family had already spent Rs 10 lakhs for her treatment while he was still bedridden.
"We approached both the BMC and the police in this regard but there's no headway. The BMC should have permitted the felling of the tree; it would have prevented the occurrence of this mishap," Saste said.
