A 58-year-old woman died after falling from the balcony of her house while trying to remove tree branches that her family says civic authorities have failed to remove despite repeated requests, raising questions about how complaints about overgrown trees are handled in the city.
Pramila Bai suffered serious head injuries after falling from the balcony of her house in Rajajinagar on the evening of June 18. She died in a private hospital on June 20.
According to police, she went to the porch with a mop handle to sweep away branches from a nearby tree that had spread on her property. While trying, she climbed on a sheet covering the balcony room. The paper collapsed, causing it to fall to the ground.
Her relatives alleged that branches had been extending to the property for some time and that she had repeatedly approached civic authorities seeking their removal, but no action was taken. They said she was frustrated by the delay and decided to handle the problem herself.
“She slipped and fell while trying to cut or push away a tree branch. The accident occurred around 5 pm on June 18. She sustained serious head injuries during the fall. Neighbors immediately took her to a nearby private hospital, but she succumbed to her injuries on June 20. We have registered a UDR case and have initiated an investigation,” Rajajinagar police inspector N. Krishna told HT.
Her husband, Siddalingarao, said the family had suffered from the overgrown tree for some time.
“The tree had grown on our property and was causing problems. I tried to remove the branch using a mop stick, but the cover broke and she fell. She fell on her head and was seriously injured. I recently had surgery on my leg, and she was taking care of me. Now, who will take care of me?” He said.
The forest range official in the Western Region denied that B. Sudarshan said that his office had not received any complaints about the tree.
He said: “We did not receive any complaint from the woman. After I learned of the death, I visited the site and found that she had slipped from the third-floor balcony. There were no railings or parapet walls near the area where the accident occurred.”
The police registered a report of unnatural death and began investigating the circumstances of the accident.
