The School Bus Owners’ Association (SBOA) has blamed the concreting of roads and movement of heavy machinery for disturbing the roots of large trees, leading to tree-fall incidents.

Structural stability questioned

Speaking with mid-day, SBOA president Anil Garg said the incident could not be dismissed as a mere act of nature, questioning whether pre-monsoon tree audits and inspections had been carried out effectively. “It is important to examine whether large-scale road concreting work across Mumbai in recent years has affected the root systems and structural stability of old trees,” he said.