BMC’s tall claims crash: Over 100 trees fall within a week of monsoon, three lives lost

Ahead of monsoon, BMC’s garden department was on a spree to prune more than 85,000 trees in Mumbai. On the day of monsoon onset in Mumbai on June 25, a bulletin released by the civic body claimed to have almost completed its pre-monsoon preparations by surveying and pruning high-risk trees in the metropolis. “The remaining trees that are less dangerous will be pruned scientifically, for which the garden department has taken full precautions,” read the notice.

Civic officials from the garden cell have attributed the ongoing works that involved digging of roads as one of the major causes for incidents of tree fall in Mumbai.

“Over the past one year, several roads and pedestrian walkways (footpaths) have been dug up for road widening and repair projects, leading to roots of trees becoming vulnerable. Heavy rain and winds worsen the situation , leading to tree fall incidents,” said an official from the garden cell, requesting anonymity.

He also said that as a precautionary measure, the BMC is carrying out pruning of trees in all civic wards. “During rain, branches of trees also become heavy and we are trimming the dangerous portions as a precautionary measure. Mumbai is a low-lying city and most of the roots of trees don’t go too deep since the water level is close to top soil. This is also a reason trees become vulnerable during monsoon,” the official added.

Amid BMC’s claims of carrying out regular pruning, leaders of Opposition parties as well as activists raised an alarm demanding proper treatment and chopping of trees. In a series of tweets, former Congress corporator Ravi Raja claimed that the BMC must take responsibility for the casualties and appoint arborists (tree doctors) in each ward seeking to ascertain the health of trees before monsoon.

“If the BMC can spend lots of money on beautification, I am sure it can spend on arborists. Also, there are many roads where tree branches are in precarious condition and they are not yet even checked by the tree department,” read a part of his tweets.

Activist Zoru Bhathena said that while tree falling is a natural occurrence, the BMC must ensure that the pruning is carried out in a scientifically manner, ascertaining the health of the trees using hand held devices.
“While even the healthiest trees can fall, most of the trees that fall in Mumbai are found to be very weak. We must check what leads to the weakening. One of the reasons is the regular tampering that happens when BMC carries out its repair works,” Bhathena told The Indian Express.

“Besides this, ideally tree trimming must be done top-down but the BMC trims them from down to the top, making them top heavy and hence more prone to falling,” he added.