A day after 11-year-old Vihaan Srivastav was killed when a tree collapsed onto his school van in Chembur, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) suspended three officials over alleged negligence.
The suspended officials are Jagdish Bhoir, Assistant Garden Superintendent of M-West ward, Arun Mundhe, Sub-Engineer from the Roads and Traffic Department of M-West ward, and Yogesh Parte, Assistant Engineer of M-East ward. The action has been taken pending a departmental inquiry.
The incident has also drawn attention to a larger pattern of tree damage linked to road infrastructure works across Mumbai.
According to The Indian Express report, at least 2,615 trees have been damaged during road concretisation and excavation projects over the past three years. During this period, the city's Tree Authority issued 428 notices to the BMC's Roads Department and various utility agencies for allegedly damaging tree roots while carrying out road digging and concreting work until March 2026.
The tree that collapsed on Chembur's Road No. 11, claiming Vihaan's life, was among those that had raised concerns.
A preliminary inspection conducted after the collapse found that while the tree's side roots remained intact, its central root system had significantly weakened, leading to the fall. The BMC has since formed a special committee to determine the exact cause of the collapse.
Documents indicate that concerns over excavation work around trees on Road No. 11 had been raised months before the incident. In April, the M-West ward's Garden Department warned the Roads Department about unscientific digging near the base of trees during ongoing road works.
According to an official notice issued by the Assistant Garden Superintendent, daily inspections by the Junior Tree Officer revealed that contractors had damaged tree roots while excavating near their base.
The notice further stated that construction debris had been dumped around the trees during the monsoon, posing an additional threat to their health.
The Garden Department instructed the Roads Department to stop excavation around trees, clear the accumulated debris, and maintain a tree basin measuring at least one metre by one metre around each trunk, filled with red soil to protect the root zone.
Despite these warnings, another notice was issued on January 27, 2026, after tree officials inspected Road Nos. 11 and 14 on January 24.
The school van was carrying 13 children at the time of the incident. Twelve of them were rescued by personnel from the Mumbai Fire Brigade, the bus conductor, and local residents before being rushed to nearby hospitals in ambulances for treatment.
The inspection again found contractors carrying out excavation close to tree bases during road works, raising fresh concerns over damage to the root systems.
