Mumbai, July 2, 2026: The suspension of three civic officials over the fatal tree-fall incident in M/West Ward has sparked protests from the Mumbai Municipal Engineers' Association. A day after the civic body took action, the association demanded that the suspensions be withdrawn, alleging the engineers had been made scapegoats without justification.
Defending the suspended officials, association representative Navnath Ghadge wrote to Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide that a site inspection indicated the peepal tree had been uprooted due to heavy rainfall. He said the widespread uprooting of trees across Mumbai during the downpour pointed to the severity of the weather conditions.
Association Defends Officials
The suspensions came late on Wednesday after a large peepal tree collapsed onto a school van carrying 12 students on Road No. 11 in Chembur on Tuesday evening, killing 11-year-old Vihaan Srivastava.
The BMC suspended three officials—an Assistant Superintendent from the Garden and Tree Department, and an Assistant Engineer and a Sub-Engineer from the Roads Department.
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Inquiry Points To Roadworks
The BMC's inquiry revealed that the excavation work along Road No. 11 had been pointed out in April 2025 and January 2026 after inspections by the Garden and Tree Department found that the roadworks had compromised the health of the tree's root system.
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