"Tore It Up": Mumbai Mayor Rejects Civic Body Report On Chembur Tree Collapse

Rejecting the report on the Mumbai tree collapse, which killed an 11-year-old boy, Mayor Ritu Tawde on Friday said that she has asked the authorities to conduct a re-enquiry into the incident. Tawde added that she "tore up" the report."We unanimously yesterday in Corporation rejected the report of the administration. We have torn the copy of the report and have asked the administration to conduct a re-enquiry and also to include two Corporators in the panel to probe it again," Tawde said.The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) held the contractors accountable and gave a clean-chit to its own officials.Vihaan Srivastav was killed on June 30 when a huge tree fell on his school bus in Chembur.The student's father, Gaurav Srivastav, in an interview to NDTV on Thursday, said,"We are hoping that there is dissatisfaction with the outcome of the report and there will be a re-inquiry which will be fair, transparent, and accountability will be fixed."The Mayor underscored that she is also a mother and understands the family's pain."I am also a mother. Their child is gone. Their home is devasted and this report sets a price of Rs 7 lakh for the victim's family which I strongly oppose. I personally visited that road ahead of monsoon and warned the site engineer of weak trees. We lost a precious life, and they set a price of Rs 7 lakh for him. This is not acceptable," Tawde said.On Monday, the inquiry committee submitted its report, in which it recommended fines of Rs 5 lakh and Rs 2 lakh on the road work contractor and supervising consultant, respectively. The report found no negligence on the part of the roads and garden department.Vihaan's father, in the NDTV interview, had alleged that a matter of negligence was turned into a natural disaster."It should be established that it's a man-made negligence and the whole system of people who are associated with this work, they should be penalised. I think that will give justice and some rules should be made or the processes should be improved so that in the next monsoon, the same thing doesn't happen to any other person," he said.Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Leader of the Opposition in the civic body, Kishori Pednekar, visited the family of Vihaan to offer her condolences.