Bhagalpur: After two people died owing to a tree falling on them on September 4, the administration has started finding dangerous spots and old dead trees in the town.

Senior officers have asked SHOs to prepare a list of such trees and other spots which could invite mishap at any time.

Rakesh Kumar Singh (35), a nazir in the commissioner's office and another businessman, Sanjeev Kumar Sah (37) died when an old dead tree fell on them when they were passing near Lalit Bhawan, behind the district collectorate on the afternoon of September 4. The cousin of Rakesh, Lallan Singh, and Sanjeev's wife, Kanchan Kumari, are admitted at JLNMCH after they suffered injuries.

Divisional commissioner Rajesh Kumar said such type of incidents indicate the negligence of the department concerned like the forest department and Bhagalpur Municipal Corporation (BMC). He instructed officials concerned to take immediate measures.

SB Meena, town commissioner, BMC, was also not available for comment but according to Aditya Jaiswal, in-charge of the planning department of BMC, around four months back, the civic body had asked the forest department to chop the old dead trees at some places in the city but the forest department did not pay heed. "Ten days ago, we again wrote to the forest department for cutting the hanging dead branches of the trees, but nothing happened," Jaiswal said.

On May 17, 2017, a 15-year-old student, Ankit Kumar, died when a tree fell on him in front of the office of the divisional commissioner. On August 23, a motorcyclist and his mother suffered injuries when a tree fell on them on Tilka Manjhi-Barari road. "There are two such dead trees on the Tilka Manjhi-Barari road near Mount Carmel school road posing a potent threat to passersby. Any mishap could occur if the trees are not removed," said Rakhi Karmakar, a teacher at Mount Assisi School.

"All the officials concerned have been instructed to take immediate measures in removing such dead trees which pose threats. The divisional forest officer has also instructed to take immediate measures for clearing such dead objects," said Bhagalpur district magistrate Pranav Kumar.