"It was one fateful day," Usman says, recalling a recent incident at Girja Chowk in Cantonment area in which an old tree fell on the passersby, killing two and leaving three injured.

Usman, who was one of the lucky survivors, says it all happened in a matter of seconds and "no one could escape it."

It wasn’t just a fateful day; it was one of those proverbial, rainy days when the thunderstorms cause such serious accidents on the roads. In another incidence, the trunk of a huge tree tumbled down on Sunder Das Road, close to the Muslim League House, killing two women commuters. Both had received fatal injuries in the head and died at the spot.

Often those who survived have ended up with multiple fractures and paralysis of different kinds.

The fact that such incidents should happen every time the city receives rain or there is windstorm, especially during monsoon every year, is criminal, to say the least. It’s high time the authorities got going. They should develop a proper mechanism to identify and deal with old, decaying trees.

In addition to causing the loss of human lives, the tumbledowns also cost heavily to utility installations like electricity wires and telephone lines. As Hassad Murad, a lineman in LESCO, puts it, "Twenty per cent of the cable wires are broken or damaged that lead to long power outages, because somewhere a tree fell on them."

The physical status and balance of a tree vis-à-vis the ground is one of the foremost things to consider, in any evaluation study. Most trees are not in perfect form but nobody knows of that.

As some trees are in close proximity to buildings, they grow lop-sided over time, causing their roots to weaken. If the photosensitivity factor is not cared for, the trees may grow leaner and become prone to falling over.

Untutored pruning and trimming is another exercise that is fraught with peril, as it often hurts the canopy and eventually the balance of a tree.

The International Society of Arborists (ISA), headquartered in Champaign, Illinois, USA, explains that all trees have the bulk of their root system to help them stand firm. They become hollow if underground aquifers turn unsuitable. "The smaller the anchor that a tree (or any plant) has in the ground, the more easily it can be disturbed," an ISA report says.

Shedding light on other important issues with the growth and balance structure of local trees, urban planner and environmentalist Mirza Iqbal says, "During infrastructure development work, roots of some trees are damaged. At times, a shallow root is soiled and severed. This lets the whole tree become asymmetrical and vulnerable to falling over."

Col (retd) Ijaz Nazim, a leader of the Shajar Dost Tehreek, believes the knowledge of tree care and urban forestry are advanced study disciplines in today’s age. "The need of the hour is to make use of the state-of-the-art system in order to safeguard the people and property from defective trees," he tells TNS. "Sensible managers of trees are supposed to conduct close inspections of every tree there is along a road or a street.

"Inspection should be documented to help follow-up on warning signs and plan accordingly," he adds. "Relevant authorities are responsible for selecting the species to plant, regular pruning, and general maintenance of the trees’ health through watering and protection from pests to ensure longevity and protection from incidents where they tumble down."

Sadly, none of the concerned departments seem to know about arboriculture -- the science of tree care that involves cultivation and management of trees’ growth, diagnosing trees’ health issues and helping each tree to prolong its life. This knowledge is important as it can predict which tree is doomed; hence, it can help avoid any untoward incident.

An arborist is a tree doctor. Interestingly, the government hasn’t appointed a single arborist till date. When quizzed, a Parks and Horticultural Authority (PHA) official admits: "We only have horticulturists who aren’t specialists in tree medication and surgery."

In 2009, the launch of the ‘Lahore Tree City Project,’ estimated at a cost of Rs1 million, was followed by so much hoo-ha about the government introducing the Geographic Information System (GIS), a satellite-based technology that is used to locate the exact reference point of an object. It was meant to monitor each and every tree. But nothing came of it.

In the Authority’s defence, Shahzad Tariq, a PHA spokesperson, asserts that whenever a complaint is made to the department about a tree being defective or weak, action is duly taken.

He also claims that a high-end machine called ‘Transplanter’ is being imported, at the cost of Rs50 million, to address the issue. "It shall help the PHA to transplant weak or decaying trees to some place where they do not threaten life or property."