Engineers oppose suspension after Chembur tree collapse kills 11-year-old boy
Following the tragic death of 11-year-old Vihan Srivastava after a peepal tree collapsed on a school van on Road no. 11 in Chembur, Mumbai’s Municipal Engineer Association has demanded the withdrawal of suspension orders against civic officials. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) suspended three officials on Wednesday, a move the association formally challenged in a letter to Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide on Thursday, calling it a suspension without justification.
The tragedy occurred on Tuesday evening in the M/West ward when a large, 50-year-old peepal tree collapsed on a school van ferrying 12 students, killing Srivastava. In response, the BMC suspended three officials on Wednesday night. The suspended personnel include an assistant superintendent of the garden and tree department, as well as civic roads department sub-engineer Arun Munde and assistant engineer Yogesh Parte.
According to an internal BMC inquiry, excavation works along Road no. 11 had been flagged at least twice—specifically in April 2025 and January 2026—by the civic tree and garden cell. The cell's inspections had indicated that the road works were negatively impacting the health of the tree's roots.
However, the Municipal Engineer Association has strongly disputed these findings. In the letter to Commissioner Bhide, association representative Navnath Ghadge argued that the tree was actually uprooted by a heavy downpour, pointing out that many other trees were similarly uprooted across the city.
Ghadge defended the suspended engineers, stating that reinforced cement concrete (RCC) work to divert rainwater was executed in March 2025 without causing any damage to the tree's roots. The work was carried out by contractor M/s Gawar Construction Ltd and supervised by project consultants M/s Mahimtura Consultants Pvt Ltd. The association has urged the civic leadership to revoke the suspension of Munde and Parte immediately, maintaining that the engineers are not to blame for the natural collapse.
