The recent spate of tree collapses after the onset of the monsoon has prompted civic authorities to review urban tree management in Mumbai. Since 2014 the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has outsourced tree care and safety to private contractors rather than relying on the garden department's staff and maalis. Critics say this shift has reduced the city's in-house capacity for hazard identification, propping and scientific pruning.

Civic records show the BMC awarded contracts totalling Rs 422.4 mn to remove and prune dead and dangerous trees across 23 municipal wards from May 2026 to May 2027. The tenders were estimated at Rs 768.2 mn but were awarded at an average of 45 per cent below that figure, reducing the final contract value by about Rs 346 mn and raising concerns over quality. Officials and councillors said bids 40-50 per cent below estimates are usually scrutinised closely.

D S Infrastructure was the largest beneficiary, winning five tenders worth about Rs 97.7 mn, while four other firms secured multiple wards and together accounted for 13 of the 24 contracts. A contractor for the H?East ward has yet to be appointed. The BMC requires bidders to employ at least one qualified horticulturist and to have prior government garden experience, but activists said these conditions are insufficient.

Former Tree Authority members and practising arborists said outsourcing had eroded institutional knowledge and urged a scientific tree census every five years alongside restoration of junior tree officers to monitor health. One International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) certified arborist warned that construction and transport firms often lack arboriculture experts and that aggressive underbidding can result in haphazard pruning and inadequate risk assessments. Civic data records 12 major tree?fall incidents that claimed 13 lives and left 18 people seriously injured between 2015 and June 2026; the deputy municipal commissioner for gardens was unavailable for comment.