Civic body to spend Rs 32 crore on trimming trees before rains

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will spend a whopping Rs 32 crore on the trimming of trees ahead of the monsoon. The proposal has been cleared by the civic tree authority.

According to civic officials, several mishaps take place due to tree falling accidents during the monsoon. To avoid them, the civic body carry out trimming of trees on public as well as private places in the city. The branches of dangerous, dead and other trees will be trimmed in this drive.

The proposal, which was tabled before the committee, was for a period of three years at the cost of Rs 95 crore. However the tree authority members stiffly opposed the proposal. The Shiv Sena party leader in the BMC Trushna Vishwasrao said, “The proposal was circulated to us just a night before the meeting was to be held. Therefore we have already informed the authorities that we did not have a chance to study the same in detail. While we did not want to pass the entire proposal but with monsoons less than a month away we felt that trimming of trees is essential or else it can be life threatening. Therefore the contract was passed for a year only.”

The menace of tree falling accidents has been increasing as last year there were eight deaths due to tree collapse in the city. In all, 33 people have lost their lives due to tree collapse in last 13 years.

Among the priorities listed by the BMC for the monsoon season, it said it will make sure dead trees are uprooted, trees that pose a hazard to life and property will be chopped down, unstable trees will be straightened, while trees that have fallen will be dismantled without any delay.