"Neglect Turned Into Natural Disaster": Father Of Boy Killed In Mumbai Tree Collapse

The father of Vihaan Srivastav, who was killed on the last day of June when a huge tree collapsed on his school bus in Mumbai, took a pause. 

He pursed his lips. Then pulled the mike back up to his face and tried to answer. 

"I think...," he said, stopping mid-sentence, having answered a series of questions on the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's inquiry into the tree-falling in Chembur that killed his 11-year-old son. The civic body held the contractors accountable and gave a clean-chit to its own officials.

The father, Gaurav Srivastav, cleared his throat and tried again. 

A long pause followed. 

"I think a lovely child whom all of us wanted to be happy," he told NDTV, fighting back tears, while answering how he wanted his child to be remembered.

Read | "Cremated Him With His Cricket Ball": Family Of Boy Killed In Mumbai Tree Collapse

Vihaan Srivastav

At this point, Vihaan's mother, Juhi Srivastav, who appeared to have morphed into a stoic as she sat through the full 11 minutes of the interview without uttering a word, burst into tears. Her body shook gently at first. As tears started, her hands reached up to her face, and then the sobbing took on an urgent tone. 

Read | 'He Has To Go Play': Mother Sits Clutching Bat After Tree Collapse Kills Son

She let out a cry. 

#NDTVExclusive | Parents of 11-Year-Old Vihaan, who was killed after a tree collapsed on a school bus in Mumbai's Chembur, speaks exclusively to NDTV's Vedika Sud (@vedikas) as outrage grows over BMC's clean chit in incident pic.twitter.com/OTgoRcVE9M

— NDTV (@ndtv) July 16, 2026

Her husband, dressed in a salmon Nike T-shirt, sat there holding the NDTV mike, looking straight ahead. 

"I think the BMC clean sheet itself is a sign that they have not done the work properly. There is no accountability fixed from their end and there is conflict in the inquiry committee as well. The BMC is doing their own inquiry. It's not an independent inquiry. There's conflict," the victim's father told NDTV.

On Monday, the inquiry committee submitted its report, in which it recommended fines of Rs 5 lakh and Rs 2 lakh on the road work contractor and supervising consultant respectively. However, it found no prima facie negligence on the part of both the departments - Garden and Roads.

"There is an accountability issue and when the Vihaan incident happened, the inquiry commission was set up. We had faith that something will come out of it and the whole system, who is responsible for it, they will be penalised. But now it is going to different department names like garden to road, road to contractor to consultant and only the consultant and contractor is liable. They have admitted negligence but I think the justice or the root cause of this incident is still the person who is responsible. They are not getting penalised," Gaurav said. 

Read | 'Tree Collapse Beyond Human Control': Minister On Mumbai Schoolboy's Death

Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde said the report was not acceptable to her, and added that the roads and garden department of the BMC must also be held responsible for negligence.

Who was responsible for the lapses that led to your son's death? NDTV asked the mother. 

The mother, her hair falling up to her shoulders, shook her head. 

"She is not in a position to speak. It's a difficult time for us," the husband relayed, answering on her behalf. 

The father then singled out the civic body for their plight.

"I think the whole system of people who are responsible for this work starting from BMC to the contractors. The whole chain should be responsible. It's not that if something bad happens then the contractor is responsible. If something good happens then BMC officials take the credit," he said.

The father pushed for an independent inquiry. 

"It should be a fair, transparent inquiry that should be done by an independent body and technical expert. We only want that something should not be repeated in the future like this and the cost of negligence should be imposed on the person who is responsible so that in future it should set an example to others," he said.

He further said that the civic body offered no explanation behind the tree collapse and that all they know is from the media reports.  

"No, we have only read in the media. There is no official who has approached us, telling us what the reason is. There have been some officials, I am not remembering the name, to express their condolences but to inquire about the incident, to give the explanation or the committee members, I don't think anyone has approached us," he said. 

"We are hoping that there is dissatisfaction with the outcome of the report and there will be a re-inquiry which will be fair, transparent and accountability will be fixed. If things don't move in a positive direction, we are exploring legal options as well to fix these things," he said, adding "there's no seriousness in that report". 

Vihaan's father complained that a matter of negligence has been turned into a natural disaster. 

"It looks like when you are sending your child to school, you are doing everything for your child and something tragic happens and the system who should examine the facts and give the correct findings itself gives a finding which is not aligned to the real facts and it's a man-made negligence turned into a natural disaster. So, that's the main thing we want to avoid. It should be established that it's a man-made negligence and the whole system of people who are associated with this work, they should be penalised. I think that will give justice and some rules should be made or the processes should be improved so that in the next monsoon, the same thing doesn't happen to any other person," he said.

He then urged for intervention at the highest level, appealing that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis step in.

"My only appeal is we are having a very difficult time going through this process and if it has to be intervened at the highest level through the chief minister then I think there should be intervention and it should be a proper investigation led by independent persons. I think that will at least set the process to put the things in motion and then a new improved process could be established and once the liabilities are fixed and people are penalised then it will also set an example for others in future that negligence cost is not just suspension or inquiry committee. There are serious consequences of any negligence. So I think that's my appeal," he said.  

He said, at this point, he is searching for answers. 

"First is that the tree was inspected. Everything was done. Why did the tree fall? And was the work not done properly? Were the roots not getting proper water or something? But I just wanted to say in short, it should not be made a natural phenomenon. It should be examined at the root cause of human negligence. And that's what I want to say," he said. 

In a release issued late on Monday evening, the BMC said Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide has directed officials to implement the panel's findings and recommendations, including preparing a standard operating procedure (SOP) for urban tree safety and appointing tree experts to supervise pruning work.