Fall from grace
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike
Rider dies after branch falls on him in Koramangala
Bengaluru's pre-monsoon rain has kept's canopy management teams on their toes.BBMP's Forest Department says it has received 1,257 complaints of tree and branch management between May 1 and 21. Out of these, little over 400 complaints were for the removal of dry and diseased trees, and around 841 cases were regarding weak and dangling branches.As many as 298 of these complaints were from Bengaluru South zone, 189 each from Bengaluru West and East, and 184 complaints from Bommanahalli zones. More than a 100 complaints poured in from Yelahanka.In the given period, BBMP's control room has received 300 complaints of fallen trees and a little over 1,000 complaints of fallen branches from across the city due to gusty wind and rain.'We have deployed 30 canopy management teams with 8 members in each team. Apart from this, we have 11 rapid response teams to attend to emergencies. We have also hired a couple of earth movers this time to clear the debris faster. The department is well equipped for the upcoming monsoon season,' said BLG Swamy, deputy conservator of forest, BBMP.To avoid tree-fall accidents this year, the Department, a couple of months ago, published a list of officials across all eight zones in the BBMP limit that were to be contacted for the removal of 'dangerous' avenue trees in the city. The idea was to get rid of weak, ailing trees during the summer and avoid mishaps in the monsoon.This large number of complaints, according to the officials, is also due to clarity on contact officers.Between April 2024 and May 2025, the canopy management teams have attended to nearly 20,000 cases.Official data shows that complaints of falling trees/branches in Bengaluru are on the rise.Between April 2020 and March 2021, the team attended to 7,472 cases. It went up to 12,107 between April 2021 and March 2022, followed by 17,948 canopy management cases between April 2023 and March 2024.BBMP has also increased the number of canopy management teams over the last few years. BBMP had 15 canopy management teams (each with eight members) in 2020, which was expanded to 28 teams at a total cost of Rs 11.7 crore in 2023, followed by 30 teams currently.BBMP DCF says, more than rain and gusty wind, it is improper handling of avenue trees by other agencies and BBMP departments that has led to so many green trees crashing.'We received more than 200 complaints from the public about weak and ailing trees and dangling branches in April, which is unusual. These were mostly green trees, but were hollow on the inside. This is mainly because of the mishandling of avenue trees.While agencies such as BWSSB and BBMP take up pipe laying or road improvement work, they carry out such work carelessly, leading to root damage. We have sent notices to BWSSB and BBMP engineers in such cases,' added Swamy.BBMP will also soon begin freeing up the critical root zones of avenue trees in the city that have concrete up to their trunk.
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