: Following the collapse of a massive hoarding in Mumbai that claimed 17 lives last week, and Tuesday’s incident at the Secunderabad Cantonment in which a man died when a tree fell on him, there was a demand for preventive measures to be taken against potential threats in the city. The hoarding collapse during gusty winds in Mumbai led several people to express their dismay on X (Twitter), demanding the removal of hoardings and advertisements that may cause hazards in case of unsavoury weather conditions. reached out to Prakash Reddy, GHMC's head of enforcement, vigilance and disaster management (EV&DM) wing and the advertisements unit, for any precautionary mechanism put in place to prevent such damage.
Prakash Reddy said the EV&DM could only look into water-related issues, such as water-logging and desilting of drainage systems. "If a fallen tree has to be removed from the location, people can call us," he said. On whether the department had made any attempt to identify potential threats such as hoardings, advertisements, poles, that may destabilise and cause damage to life and property, the director said the EV&DM only had the authority to remove trees that had fallen over and the assessment part came under the biodiversity wing of the organisation.
Reaching out to the urban biodiversity department, Deccan Chronicle enquired about the assessment of trees as threats. Responding to this, Dr Sunanda Reddy, chief horticulture officer and additional commissioner, GHMC, said, .