Tree crashes near Santa Monica jetty in city at 4.30am, no injuries reported

Panaji: A tragedy was averted after a decades-old rain tree (Samanea Saman) crashed across the road in one of Panaji’s busiest areas near the Santa Monica tourism jetty around 4.30am on Monday.
The fire and emergency services personnel carried out the operation to clear the road, which was closed and traffic was diverted for some time.
Vehicles are usually parked at the spot of the tree crash and it is teeming with tourists and others, especially during evening hours.
“Nobody was hurt in the incident,” a fireman told the media at the spot.
A 19-year-old girl from Betim had been killed on July 21 last year after a tree had crashed on her near the Garcia de Orta garden at noon.
The Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) had requested the forest department to identify unstable trees and it has carried out pruning of more than 100 out of 390 trees, as per the findings.
“But I had brought to the CCP’s notice the unsafe condition of four trees in the city last year. The rain tree near Santa Monica was one of them,” horticulturist and landscape designer, Daniel D’Souza said.
He said that he had supervised pruning of a rubber tree at Inox Courtyard, a banyan tree near Caculo Island, while CCP had trimmed the third tree — a banyan tree behind the pharmacy college.
“The Ficus species tree near the directorate of survey and land records is another tree that needs urgent trimming,” D’Souza further said.
The social media was abuzz with criticism after Monday’s incident. “Why are all the big roadside trees just falling when they stood the test of time?,” a citizen questioned.