THANE, July 5 -- Majha purna ayushya barbad zhala (My entire life has been destroyed), says Amol Randhve, 28, for whom a night of merriment went horribly wrong around four years ago. One moment he was waiting beneath a tree for a friend after attending a cousin's wedding in Thane. The next, he was being rushed to hospital with serious head and spinal injuries. Randhve was slammed by the branch of a peepal tree at around 10:00pm on December 19, 2021. Semiconscious, he was rushed to two local hospitals, which did not admit him. Hours later, he was wheeled into KEM Hospital in Mumbai. That night, Randhve suffered a double blow - the residual effects of the accident remain severe, and, as a driver, he will likely never make a decent living again. "My spine never healed properly. I cannot stand, walk or even sit for extended periods. I experience excruciating headaches, and I get breathless easily," he says. Randhve spent three months in hospital and was bedridden for six months in his Thane home after that. He also took 18 stitches to the head. Before the accident, life was looking up. Randhve had moved to Thane from Jalna for work in 2016. He earned around Rs.50,000 a month shuttling passengers in a Scorpio he owned on the Mumbai-Pune route. "I needed to support my family and get out there and work. So I came to Thane and was doing very well. Now, I can't drive for extended periods and need to frequently lie down in the car to rest," says Randhve, who now earns Rs.18,000 per month. "My current employer has hired me as a driver on humanitarian grounds." Randhve and his family spent Rs.1.5 lakh on his medical expenses. He says, "When I pleaded for compensation from the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC), officials said I would have got the money if the accident was fatal." But he's is not giving up the fight. In 2023, Randhve became a co-petitioner in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in the Bombay High Court along with environmental activist Rohit Joshi. They are seeking the court's directions to get the civic authorities to remove the concrete at the base of roadside trees, whose roots have been entombed during road concretisation work. This has left the trees weak and unstable, posing a risk to the public. The accident has also left an emotional scar. Now, Randhve never stands or parks beneath roadside trees....