Tree in BMC office comes crashing, injures neighbours

It's not just the trees on the city's streets and gardens that the BMC chooses to ignore - going by a recent incident, it seems that the civic body is equally apathetic about pruning the trees that grow in the premises of its own offices.

Hazardous: The wreckage outside Korgavkar's residence in Tardeo when a sizeable portion of the tree fell through their roof. Pic/ Bipin Kokate

A 30-year-old tree located in BMC sewage and drainage redressal office in Tardeo came crashing down after the downpour on Sunday, succumbing to the seasonal rains and the obvious lack of pruning. This, despite the fact that residents had earlier requested the BMC to take preventive action and prune the tree.

The tree gave way and fell on the adjacent houses in the Devisahay locality, injuring three residents. Residents of the colony, however, are seeing a silver lining, as they hope that the incident will spur the BMC to prune two other hazardous trees in their locality, before another mishap occurs.
Raja Amrute (60), a resident of the area, said, "I had brought the condition of the tree to the notice of our corporator earlier.

However, authorities failed to prune the tree, which led to the mishap. The authorities must wake up and prune the other two trees in our locality, the branches of which are hanging dangerously. People staying in houses beneath these trees have been forced to vacate their residences for their safety."

Santosh Korgavkar (43) who received five stitches on his head after the tree fell on his house, said, "Though tree has its roots in the premises of the BMC office, its branches hung dangerously over residential houses in our locality. Timely pruning before the monsoons could have prevented it from falling."

Korgavkar's nephews Akash (13) and Sahil (5) were also injured. Luckily, both escaped with minor bruises.Though the mishap occurred owing to the BMC's negligence in pruning one of the trees in its own premises, the civic body stayed firm on not compensating the victims.

Speaking to MiD DAY, Deputy Municipal Commissioner Suhas Karvande said, "We will not be compensating the people who got injured during the incident. Since the rains suddenly approached the city on Sunday, the tree must have given way. These occurrences go up during the beginning of the monsoon season. Gradually, as trees get used to the monsoons, these incidents will come down considerably.

Meanwhile, in Andheri, a tree collapsed on 12 motorbikes parked outside Bhavans College, leaving several college students with minor injuries. Vinay Shetty (20), Faizal Shaikh (16), A Hazare (16), Shahbuddin Shaikh (17) and Aditya Mahale (16) were sitting on their bikes in the parking area when the tree fell. They escaped relatively unhurt, but the 12 bikes were damaged completely.

In another incident, a slab of a building undergoing construction collapsed in Andheri (East) at N S Phadke Road. Three people were injured and were rushed to a local nursing home. "They were given treatment and discharged immediately as their injuries were not critical," a fire brigade official said.

Inputs: Rinkita Guravu00a0