MUMBAI, July 10 -- What's the toughest part about overseeing Mumbai's 2.97 million trees? The civic garden department, guardian of the city's green cover, would sum it up in a single word. It isn't ageing trees or even shrinking green spaces. It's outsourcing. Senior officials reveal that as staffing levels in the department declined, the BMC has increasingly outsourced the maintenance, pruning and removal of dead trees to private contractors, who are often not qualified for the job. It's a policy that took effect in 2014, the year before Jitendra Pardeshi, garden superintendent at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), took charge. Officials say the garden department now has just 112 officers and gardeners on its rolls. And even that's not enough to oversee the 1,100 gardens and other open spaces under its charge, never mind overseeing close to 3 million trees. Add to that granting permission for tree pruning and felling, overseeing compensatory plantations, and responding to monsoon emergencies. Moreover, when Pardeshi took charge, Mumbai's relentless infrastructure push was already underway, steadily shrinking its green cover. Many of the trees that survived, are taking the fall now. In the last decade, since Pardeshi took charge, 16 people have lost their lives in tree collapses and scores have been injured. The death of 11-year-old Vihan Srivastava in Chembur June and Aarika Srivastava in Khar in May have brought the issue into sharp focus once more. This year, since June 30 alone, 830 trees have collapsed and 1,238 incidents of large branches falling were reported across the city. Environmentalists activists say that, over time, contractor labour has replaced individuals who had decades of experience identifying diseased trees, propping up weak branches and carrying out pruning in a scientific manner. The BMC has in fact allotted Rs.42.24 crore on contracts from May 2026 to May 2027 for pruning and removing dead and ailing trees in 24 municipal wards. Several contracts went to companies primarily engaged in construction and infrastructure work, rather than specialised arboriculture or urban forestry, even though the tender conditions mandate having horticulturists and technical supervisors on board. "Physical inspections are carried out by junior tree officers or horticulturists appointed by contractors. After 2014, many of our gardeners retired and our staff strength reduced. At the same time, tree falling complaints from citizens has increased. We did not have enough in-house manpower," a civic official said. Former member of the BMC's Tree Authority, Niranjan Shetty, said the BMC has weakened its own institutional expertise. "The corporation already had gardeners, many from farming families in Ratnagiri and the Konkan, who possess generations of practical knowledge. They understand tree health, know how to prune scientifically and have a deep attachment to trees. For the BMC, outsourcing has become a habit. But where is the accountability from these contractors every time a tree falls, or a penalty for jobs not done," he asks. AIMIM corporator Zameer Qureshi questions the quality of the tender documents. "The Letter of Acceptance for contractors still contains clauses relating to Covid-19 screening of garden workers. Such outdated provisions remain to date. This reflects poor scrutiny and creates loopholes that allow contractors to escape accountability," he said. After the recent fatalities, the BMC has proposed involving experts from Mumbai University and IIT to develop a scientific framework to protect trees on footpaths. Activists say this should have been implemented years ago. Environmental activist Rohit Joshi, for instance, says the health of trees can be verified using the LIDAR tree radar system, which detects internal cavities and structural weaknesses. HT asked Jitendra Pardeshi about the staffing shortage, outsourcing of tree maintenance, and monitoring mechanisms but he declined to comment, saying it was a "sensitive time" due to the recent tree collapse-related fatalities....