Kurla Tree Fall Kills 63-Year-Old Man Amid Concretisation Scrutiny
A 63-year-old man was killed in Kurla on Sunday morning after a tree branch collapsed on him, marking the third tree-fall fatality in Mumbai within a single week. The incident occurred amid heavy rains and high winds that triggered 203 tree-fall reports across the city, intensifying public and environmental scrutiny over the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) road concretisation project.
The victim, identified as Yunus Kundawala, was struck by the falling branch on Sunday morning. The BMC attributed the high number of tree collapses to unusually strong winds, which blew at speeds of 72 to 79 kmph on Sunday—more than three times the average wind speeds typically experienced during the monsoon.
However, the recent spate of tree collapses has brought the BMC’s road concretisation project under renewed criticism. Records show that two of the three fatal tree collapses over the past week occurred along roads that had recently undergone concretisation. This has raised fresh questions over whether the infrastructure project has compromised the stability of roadside trees.
Civic records indicate a rise in both tree-fall incidents and fatalities since the road concretisation project was launched in January 2023. The project, a brainchild of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, was initiated after Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed its groundbreaking ceremony.
According to BMC data, tree-fall incidents have remained high, with 687 incidents reported in 2023, 653 in 2024, and 855 in 2025. Between 2023 and July 5, 2026, at least 11 people lost their lives in tree collapses, compared with four deaths recorded between 2020 and 2022.
Environmentalists argue that widespread concretisation around tree bases has contributed to the increase. Stalin D, environmentalist and director of the NGO Vanashakti, stated that Mumbai is unique in concretising tree basins, leaving trees with barely two square metres of exposed soil. This weakens the base, reduces soil moisture, and dehydrates the trees, causing them to lose structural balance.
Following a June 30 incident in Chembur where 11-year-old Vihaan Srivastava was killed after a peepal tree collapsed on his school bus, Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide directed that concrete slabs around tree bases be removed. However, Stalin D cautioned against doing this during the monsoon, warning that the concrete currently holds the weakened bases together and removing them now could make trees more vulnerable.
Data from the Tree Authority shows that between October 2023 and March 2026, 428 notices were issued to the BMC’s Roads Department and utility agencies for damaging tree roots. During this period, the roots of 2,615 trees were found to have been damaged during road concretisation and related excavation.
