PONDA: It was a lucky escape for school students as a massive jackfruit tree crashed seconds before they were about to cross the road at Dhavalim on Wednesday.
The incident occurred at 7.30 pm, as the main road in Ward 6 Varchawada Dhavalim got blocked. The tree damaged a car and a portion of a house belonging to Shivaji Naik besides snapping overhead wires, disrupting electricity supply to the area.
Panch member Sumitra Santosh Naik and talathi inspected the spot.
Local Sanjay Dhavalikar demanded that the govt grant at least Rs five lakh for each panchayat to cut down dangerous trees posing risk to houses and pedestrians.
With the fire officials busy attending to several calls, locals Subash Naik, Anand Naik and other youth cut a portion of the tree to facilitate the traffic movement. The fire personnel later cleared the remaining portion of the tree.
A stray dog was injured after coming in contact with the live wires that got snapped on the road following the tree crash.
The youth rescued the dog and immediately shut down the power supply for the safety of the public.
The locals said that in the past few days a leopard, which has been moving around in their area, attacked a dog.
The residents said that they have complained to the Forest Department about the tree falling incidents in the area.
