To avoid monsoon mishaps, BMC to trim 1.8L trees

Nanavati Hospital: Sexual harassment victim refuses to file complaint The civic body has appealed to citizens to report about the dangerous tree branches in their areas

Following the tweet about a sexual harassment incident at the Nanavati Hospital, a doctor has been suspended while an internal enquiry has been initiated against the medico. However, the probe into the sensitive matter has got stuck as the victim in the case has refused to file a written or verbal complaint.

According to the hospital source, they had approached the victim and had asked her to come to the hospital on Monday to file a complaint or explain her ordeal. “We had approached the victim but she did not take calls due to which the investigation can’t go further. However, we are going to continue with the suspension of the doctor,” he said.

On March 31, film writer, Darab Farooqui, took to twitter about the sexual harassment incident he witnessed at the hospital while being there for his son’s medical check-up. “We were startled to hear screams and shouts coming from Room 5 ..... Suddenly, the door burst open, and a girl screamed, her face flushed with rage,” read the tweet.

He added, “She was yelling “Where is the head of the department? I want to report this?”

Prepping up for the monsoon, the BMC’s garden department has started pruning dead and dangerous branches of tall trees to avoid any untoward incidents during the rainy season.

The civic body has appealed to the citizens that if any dead and dangerous trees / branches are present in their areas, they should contact the garden department and get it trimmed before monsoon’s arrival.

BMC's garden department incharge, Jitendra Pardesi, said, “There are total of 30 lakh trees in Mumbai. Of them, 1,80,000 trees are on the road so the first target of the BMC will be to trim them. Simultaneously, we request the societies to trim any dangerous trees of the society with the BMC’s permission.”

Talking about future course of action, he said that 21,595 trees will be trimmed by May 15, while notices have been sent to

5,200 societies for pruning the trees in their premises. “The citizens and societies

can trim the trees on their own with our permission by contacting their known horticulture agencies or they can approach the BMC which has ward-wise specific charges,” he mentioned.

“We also have an app called MCGM 24x7 which can be used to contact the garden department for pruning the trees,” added Pardesi.

Last year when extremely severe cyclone Tauktae brushed past the Mumbai coast, with wind speed reaching up to 114 km/hour, as many as 2,364 branches and trees were damaged in the city between May16 and May 18.

Around 812 trees were uprooted and 1,552 trees lost their branches. Moreover, the number of trees that fell during those three days was higher than the total tree fall incidents that the BMC records within the fourmonth monsoon season.

The BMC, on an average, receives 600 tree fall complaints a month between June to September every year.