Hyderabad: A 65-year-old man died and over a dozen people got severely injured when a big tree fell on the road in Shamsheergunj in Old City on Monday. Around six vehicles were also damaged in the incident.
The man who died has been identified as Mohd Saleh, a resident of Chandulal Baradari. According to the police, the tree was more than twenty years old and suddenly fell on the busy road from Shamsheergunj to Kalapather at around 2 pm. Some pedestrians walking on the road and three people in an auto-rickshaw and a scooter were trapped under the fallen tree.
“A tree fell on Saleh while he was walking on the road. He got injured and trapped under the tree. Local people and police rescued him and took him to the hospital where he later died,” said a police officer.
The locals who saw the incident quickly rushed to help those who were trapped under the tree. They managed to pull out several people, and two of them were taken to the hospital for treatment.
When the Shalibanda police and Falaknuma traffic police learned about the incident, they arrived at the scene and informed the GHMC. The GHMC’s DRF team and other personnel started cutting down the tree to clear the road for traffic.
After the incident, people demanded that the GHMC conduct a survey of all trees along the road and remove or relocate those with weak foundations.
Mohammed Ahmed, a local activist, said that despite many complaints about conducting tree surveys and removing weak trees, the department did not take action. He added that officials from the horticulture wing and electricity department often blame each other, which leads to such accidents.
“We demand that GHMC and the electricity department conduct surveys and take steps to prevent such incidents,” he added.
