Mumbai: Notices were exchanged, but no action was taken

The death of Dinesh Sangale due to a tree fall, the fourth such incident in less than a year, has once again raised the question of timely trimming of trees and related concerns.

While the Mumbai Marathi Grantha Sangrahalaya, the compound where the tree was located, claimed that it raised the issue of trimming the tree with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in August last year, civic officials on the other hand claim that they haven't received any such letter. Further, the officials state that the carried out an inspection on April 6 following which a notice was sent to the Sangrahalaya to trim the tree on time.

Kishor Desai, assistant municipal commissioner of F-South ward, said, "A letter was sent to them in order to trim the tree. They failed to carry out the appropriate action on time. We haven't received any letter from them in the past."

A senior official from BMC's garden department said, "The tree looked good on visual inspection but it was completely hollow from inside. Due to the load from its branches, it cracked from the middle. It can be seen the tree was infested. Trees like Gulmohar and Raintree, which are popularly seen in the city, are not native trees. These exotic trees do not stay long."

Vishwas Mokhshi, Vice President of the Sangrahalaya, said, "We have raised the issue last year. While we received the notice from BMC this month, we were supposed to trim it. But unfortunately, this incident has occurred. We are ready to give a job to his wife so that she can earn some money and support her family, but we will have to go through a process."