DD anchor killed in tree fall was on the way to visit nine-month pregnant daughter

Former Doordarshan anchor and yoga teacher, Kanchan Nath, died when a coconut tree fell on her Following the incident, her husband accused the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation of criminal negligence and said he would take legal action against them She was to visit her daughter who is nine-months pregnant

A former Doordarshan anchor and yoga teacher, Kanchan Nath, died when a tree fell on her while she was returning home from work. 

The incident occurred on Thursday, July 20, 2017, around 8 am when the 57-year-old woman was going back home in Chembur.

A coconut tree snapped from its trunk and fell on her as she walked down on Sant Venkaiah Marg. She died on Saturday after being in a coma for two days.

Following the incident, her husband Rajat Nath accused the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) of criminal negligence and said he would take legal action against civic body.

While talking to Hindustan Times, Kanchan’s husband said, “In February this year, the owner of the plot had approached the BMC to cut the tree. The civic body inspected and decided on pruning some of the branches of the dead tree instead of cutting it. The owner even paid for the pruning. If only the BMC had paid heed to the application and cut the dead tree, I would not have lost my wife.”

“My wife was going to visit her daughter in Bangalore, who is nine-months pregnant, to take care of her,’’ he further added. 

He also told HT that the people responsible for this will be penalised and that he will take action against BMC.

Apparently, the BMC had started pruning work in the area. But after the tree-fall incident, no BMC official has visited the area. 

The grieving husband said he wants the BMC to take the responsibility of the incident and also prune all the hazardous trees in the city to avoid further loss of lives.