A huge tree fell inside the Howrah Municipal Corporation premises on Tuesday morning, July 2, where two people were killed. The deceased have been identified as Umesh Mahto and Noor Mohammad, both temporary workers of the Howrah Municipal Corporation, according to the news agency IANS.
The tree fell in front of the office of the Chief Municipal Commissioner of the Howrah Municipal Corporation. Umesh and Noor were under the tree when it toppled, killing them on the spot. Police from Howrah Police Station and municipal officials quickly arrived at the scene. The bodies were recovered and sent for post-mortem examination.
Municipal corporation officials said the eucalyptus tree had been leaning dangerously for a long time and posed a risk of collapse at any moment. The tree finally fell suddenly on Tuesday morning. Officials fear that if it had collapsed during peak office hours, the casualties could have been even higher. This has raised questions as to why no action was taken to cut down the tree despite it leaning for so long.
The BJP alleged negligence, claiming that the tree was known to be in a dangerous condition and that no action was taken despite repeated complaints to the municipal corporation. Local BJP leader Umesh Rai said, “The tree fell even without any rainfall. The municipality must take responsibility for the deaths of these two people.”
However, Sujoy Chakraborty, Chairman of the Municipal Corporation’s Board of Administrators, stated, “Since the tree was there, we did not see any possibility of it collapsing, so it wasn’t cut down. This is an unfortunate incident. Financial assistance will be provided to the families of the deceased as per government rules.”
"Actually, there was a tree here which suddenly fell, on the opposite side of the road. The tree was on one side of the road, and on the opposite side, three of our staff members were sitting and reading the newspaper. The tree fell so quickly on them that they didn’t even have time to react or move," Chakraborty added.