Mumbai, July 5 -- For Mumbai's residents, trees have become an unlikely source of fear. Two lives have already been lost to tree collapses in the first seven months of this year - an 11-year-old boy crushed inside his school bus last week and a 15-year-old girl travelling in an autorickshaw in May. Since 2023, falling trees and branches have claimed 11 lives. Citizens say every collapse is a reminder of institutional neglect. The numbers suggest the danger is only growing. In 2024, 653 incidents of trees or branches falling were reported, climbing sharply to 855 incidents in 2025. This year, 411 such incidents have already been reported, even though the monsoon has only just set in. Frustrated by civic inaction, citizens have turned to the courts. A public interest litigation before the Bombay High Court seeks the removal of excessive concrete around roadside trees, arguing that it has suffocated their roots, weakened them and made them more prone to collapse. Behind every statistic is a family whose life has been irrevocably altered. HT spoke to five such families. Their stories reveal the human cost of alleged civic neglect....