Average rain blows lid off Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s shoddy job, brings down trees

MUMBAI: On an average, at least four trees have fallen every day in the city this July, even though the city has received a pittance of rainfall. The BMC has registered 572 cases of tree fall this July, killing at least two people and injuring 18 others. Experts have lambasted the civic body for its lack of concern towards tree pruning and cutting.
In July, the western suburbs topped the chart with 223 cases of tree fall, followed by the eastern suburbs (194) and the island city (155). On July 3, maximum number of tree collapses (78) was registered, when the city received an average rainfall of 125mm. This July, Mumbai has received 943mm of rainfall, which officials at the Indian Metrological Department (IMD) termed as normal.
A senior official from the horticulture department of the BMC said, “There is a direct relationship between amount of rainfall and the cases of tree fall. However, at times trees have collapsed on days when there has been no rainfall. This is due to high wind velocity and, some times, weakening of tree roots due to concrete. Thus, we cannot cite heavy rainfall as the only reason for trees falling.”
Niranjan Shetty, former member of the civic body’s tree authority said, “The BMC does not keep a tab on trees inside private societies. A huge number of trees that collapse fall within private properties. The civic body simply washes its hands of and says that it is not within the jurisdiction. Each jurisdiction has only a single junior tree officer, who is appointed to keep a tab on all the trees. The BMC desperately needs more personnel.”
Chairman of the tree authority Amit Satam told TOI, “I have asked the superintendent of gardens to call an emergency meeting of the 24 junior tree officers to find out what has gone wrong.”
The BMC had said that it had trimmed and balanced around 340 trees and removed paver blocks around the trunks of at least 500 trees before March 31. However, since June, the tree authority has not been able to furnish any details. Satam said, “I shall make sure the department comes up with statistics on the number of complaints registered, addressed andtime was taken to address them.”