BMC to prune trees and branches located in private premises to prevent mishaps

According to the civic body’s previous rules, the trees that are located within the periphery of private premises are to be trimmed and cut by the owners of the premises. However, if the civic body locates any overgrown tree or receives any complaint in this regard, then the authorities would send a notice to the managers of the society, urging them to prune the tree. However, there was no provision for the authorities where they would chop the trees by themselves.

Meanwhile, in a revised set of guidelines issued on March 28, the civic authorities have maintained that now, they will prune trees that are located within private properties as well.

“Any tree found dangerously tilting over municipal roads, footpaths, traffic islands or parks will be cut down by the BMC,” said the civic body’s guideline.

“For trees located within private premises, a notice will be sent to the owner/manager of the property telling them to prune the branches on an urgent basis. If they fail to act, then the local BMC ward office will initiate the pruning work by themselves by the appointed contractors,” the guidelines state.

Speaking to The Indian Express, civic officials maintained that the decision of revising the new tree pruning policy was taken to prevent future mishaps.

“Last year, two lives were lost in two different tree fall incidents and in both of them, the trees were located within private premises. This year, there has been one incident so far. Often the managers and trustees of private buildings don’t prune the trees which poses a serious threat to the lives of people. Therefore, to put a check on this, the rules have been revised,” an official said.

Meanwhile, on Thursday night, one person died while another person got injured after a Gulmohar tree fell on them. The deceased was later identified as Ranjan Nishad (27), while the injured has been identified as Balkrishna Kara (33).

Civic officials said the tree collapsed on bikes that were parked adjoining a road at Vikhroli. After the incident, the two were rushed to hospital where Nishad was declared dead.