JOIN USForest cell officials of the BBMP got an earful at a meeting over their failure to identify weak trees and clear them.
At a meeting on Tuesday, Mayor B N Manjunath Reddy, Deputy Mayor Hemalatha Gopalaiah and opposition BJP leader Padmanabha Reddy took officials to task for not taking their directions seriously.
Mayor said, “We had been warning the officials to gear up for the monsoon and start preparations. While all other departments are at work, the forest officials ignored the instructions. Axing of trees is not enough. Weak branches should be identified and pruned. Monday’s deaths could have been averted, had the forest cell officials been alert,” mayor added.
He pointed out that such tragedies happen despite the civic agency having 900 gangmen spread over 21 forest cells.
Corporators at the meeting blamed the forest cell officials for not responding to their information about weak trees.