A 52-year-old man was bitten by a swarm of bees at Veer Savarkar Garden in Borivali west and succumbed to the stings last week. Along with the deceased, two others who tried to rescue the old man were also bitten by the bees.
During most emergency situations in the city, the Mumbai Fire Brigade comes to the rescue be it a fire, or a building collapse. However, it is not trained how to deal with the removal of bee nests. Therefore, the members have demanded a separate mechanism for carrying out bee operations. Shiv Sena corporator Sheetal Mhatre has asked the municipal authority to take the required action regarding the bees flocking in the surrounding area.
Veer Savarkar Garden is run by a foster organisation. The Sena corporator has asked the responsible organisation to do the needful for the removal of bee nests in the garden and also address the concerns of the people residing near the garden.
As Municipal Corporation has no effective tools to evict bees, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) official, Ganesh Khankar stated how bees repopulated the garden after the nests had been removed once. Vishakha Raut, a Shiv Sena corporator raised the issue and the corporation to form a system for bee nest removal if there is none present now.