Mumbai, May 29: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) as part of their monsoon preparedness has undertaken various civic works like cleaning nullah and pruning of trees. But it still draws a lot of flak for increasing instances of civic negligence in Mumbai. Fatal mishaps were reported due to trees falling on civilians in the recent times. In yet another tragic incident, a 91-year-old woman named Sukhi Lilaji was killed after a branch fell on her head on  late Monday evening at Walkeshwar, near Banganga Talao.

According to BMC disaster control room officials, the lady was taken to Gokuldas Tejpal Hospital, a government-run civic hospital for medical treatment. Initially, the doctors said that there was a head injury and a fracture in the left shoulder of the injured women. However, her condition deteriorated, and later she was shifted to the ICU. Unfortunately, due to severe head injury and bleeding, she was declared dead by the doctors on today morning. Fatal mishaps due to tree fall is increasing, despite BMC's  tall claims. Hence, questions are being raised whether the civic body is carrying out its work diligently.

A similar mishap was earlier reported were an ex Doordarshan news anchor named Kanchan Nath, 58, was killed after a coconut tree fell on her, while she was on her morning walk. The entire incident was captured in the CCTV camera which was placed on the nearby road. After, the episode, the Mumbai civic body was slammed by activists and citizens for their negligence. Also, it was alleged that complaints of that dangerous coconut tree were given to the civic officials much earlier, but they turned a blind eye to it.

The horticulture department of all municipal wards prunes trees to avoid any mishap, especially in monsoons. However, the civic body received much flak for trimming the trees unscientifically. Therefore, this time the Civic Commissioner Ajoy Mehta has decided to provide training to their officials regarding different methods on gauging a tree's health, it's hollowness, internal infections, etc. Only after that, it will be decided whether the tree is unhealthy or not. Currently, the civic officials merely term the tree as healthy or non-healthy by a visual inspection.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 29, 2018 10:21 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).