Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday (July 1, 2026) formed an inquiry committee to investigate Chembur tree-fall incident, directing it to submit a report within eight days. and prima facia suspended concerning officers. Mr. Jagdish Bhoir, Additiona; Superintendent of Gardens (M/West) Department was suspended for negligence and Sub Engineer (Road) Arun Munde was suspended for negligence in the reconstruction work.The inquiry committee will include Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Special Engineering) Purushottam Malavde and Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Engineering) Shashank Bhore.“The committee experts’ will provide consultation and recommend measures to prevent such incidents from recurring, while officials found prima facie negligent have been suspended pending further inquiry,” said BMC Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide, adding the action will be taken against the concerned contractor.A Peepal tree uprooted and fell onto a school bus near Diamond Garden in Chembur (West) on Tuesday (June 30, 2026). The school bus belonging to Universal High School was passing near Haritaj Pritam Building, Road No. 11, Diamond Garden, Chembur (West) had 13 children on board, of which 11-year-old Vihan Shrivastav died, while four others were injured.Letters to contractorsThe tree was pruned on May 29 as part of pre-monsoon preparation and the condition of tree was marked as healthy and safe in a May 12 survey, as per BMC authority. In January 2026, during inspections related to roadside works, the Assistant Commissioner of the M-West Ward had instructed that necessary precautions be taken.In a fresh order, Ms. Bhide has directed officer to undertake fresh pruning of all potentially hazardous trees, time-bound re-inspection, and structural assessment of trees that may pose a risk to public safety.According to BMC, no official complaints were received regarding the tree. However, Garden department sent two letters to the contractors in last 1.5 years, concerning road renovation and storm water drainage work around the incident spot, saying, “the roots of the trees on the road were damaged due to digging near the base of the trees. So the possibility of the felling of the tree during the monsoon cannot be ruled out. The first letter was sent on April 9, 2025 and the second letter was on January 1, 2026. The second letter instructed the Contractor to maintain a tree basin of at least 1 m x 1 m in size around the roots and fill in red soil, the debris left near the roots of all the trees on the above road should be removed, ensuring that no damage is done to the roots of trees.“Garden deparment is at fault”BMC Corporators during standing committee meeting on Wednesday (July 1, 2026) raised concerns around the weakening of tree roots due to negligence of Contractors while concretisation of road, demanding audit of the trees and holding Garden Department officials accountable. “In the last 1.5 years, road engineers did not take cognisance of what happened to trees. Contractors don’t answer letters of road engineers, nor engineers dare to stop their work. This is happening because of favouring someone or negligence of authorities,”said Ganesh Khankar, BJP group leader in BMC. Shiv Sena (UBT) Yashodhar Phanse called out Contractors who have messed up the concretisation of road as trees are being neglected. Highlighting that Chembur has the highest number of trees, he said, “Tree pruning is not done properly and officers need to be suspended. This condition is not of roadside trees alone, but gardens as well. In my ward, there are two gardens where the trees are in poor condition. The compensation should also be given to the owner of the school bus, and an independent expert should be included on the committee.“The data provided by BMC stated that 468 trees were identified as dead or hazardous and removed, while branches of 101,318 trees were pruned. In the last three years, 2,195 trees fell in Mumbai, with 180 in BMC-owned areas, and 507 trees in private properties in 2023, 171 in BMC-owned areas, and 482 trees in private land in 2024, and 221 in BMC-owned areas, and 634 trees in 2025.