Elderly Woman Dies After Tree Falls on Autorickshaw in Pune, Second Such Incident This Week
Elderly Woman Dies After Tree Falls on Autorickshaw in Pune, Second Such Incident This Week
Pune, May 28: A 76-year-old woman, Shubhada Sapre, a resident of Anandnagar on Sinhagad Road, died on Wednesday afternoon after a Gulmohar tree fell on the autorickshaw she was travelling in near Nilayam Talkies, Peshwe Park. The incident occurred around 3.30pm amid heavy rainfall, making it the second fatal treefall incident in the city this week.
According to Parvati police, the autorickshaw was en route to Sinhagad Road from Tilak Road when the tree collapsed. Senior Inspector Nandkumar Gaikwad said the impact of the fall severely damaged the vehicle and left Sapre with critical head injuries.
The autorickshaw driver, Sanjay Awachare, a resident of Dhanori, sustained minor injuries. He managed to remove some of the fallen branches and pulled Sapre out of the vehicle. Awachare flagged down another rickshaw and rushed her to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared her dead on arrival.
“It was raining heavily at the time, and the tree from Peshwe Park was uprooted due to the rain, crashing onto a wall and the autorickshaw,” Gaikwad said.
The tragedy has intensified public outrage over the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) failure to trim and maintain trees before the onset of the monsoon. Earlier this week, on Monday evening, 49-year-old Rahul Shrikant Joshi, a resident of Narhe and native of Erandwane, died when a tree fell on him while riding his motorcycle around 7.15pm.
In response to growing concerns, PMC officials stated that 91 dead or dry trees and 120 hazardous branches have been identified for removal, and that about 95% of the necessary trimming and pruning work has been completed.
