Tree collapse. TRAFFIC chaos. Three hurt.

 

 

 

A large tree that had been leaning dangerously for several days finally gave way on the busy Wardha Road near Rahate Colony Square around 6 pm on Saturday. The incident during peak hours left three two-wheeler riders, including two women, injured. The victims were heading towards Kriplani T-point when the 20-foot-tall Acacia tree suddenly crashed on the busy road. As the incident caught them unawares, they got trapped under heavy branches of the fallen tree. Traffic police officers stationed nearby quickly rushed to the scene and rescued the injured riders. The Fire and Emergency Services Department of the Nagpur Municipal

 

Corporation (NMC) was alerted immediately. According to eye-witnesses, the tree had been leaning for several days, but the NMC had not taken any action. Creepers had also grown heavily on the tree which added to its weight and instability. Due to the sudden collapse, traffic on Wardha Road came to a complete standstill. Soon a long queue of vehicles extended up to 3 kilometers, including on the Shaheed Gowari flyover. Senior police officials, including Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Madhuri Bawiskar and Police Inspector Aniruddha Puri, reached the spot with additional police teams to manage the chaos. To ease the traffic pressure, vehicles were diverted towards Congress Nagar, but slow movement caused further jams on alternate routes. Meanwhile, NMC staff arrived and started cutting branches of the fallen tree to clear the road for traffic. It took them nearly four hours to remove the tree and restore flow of traffic on the road.

 

A resident of Rahate Colony expressed anger over the delay by the NMC in removing the dangerous tree earlier, which could have prevented the incident. The condition of the injured riders is said to be stable, and they have been admitted to a nearby hospital for treatment. NMC’s apathy exposed The NMC’s negligence was once again exposed during the incident on Saturday evening. The branches of the tree were not trimmed properly, which could have helped prevent the incident. Shockingly, just 10 minutes before traffic police had alerted the NMC about the risk of the tree falling.