Days after a tree collapse in Khar critically injured two girls, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has launched a first-of-its-kind summer drive to water large, full-grown trees across Mumbai’s high footfall locations in a bid to reduce heat stress in trees and prevent their weakening. According to senior officials, the drive was initiated after an increasing trend of tree collapses across the city this summer, which was linked to lack of moisture in soil and weakening of branches amid extreme heat, due to tree ’embolism’. Currently, the city is in the midst of a prolonged hot and humid spell with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) placing the city until a yellow alert till Friday. The burgeoning heat levels have also taken a toll on Mumbai ’s mature trees with the civic officials recording an uptick in tree collapses across the city. On Friday, two girls were critically injured after a tree – surrounded with large stones at base – collapsed upon a moving auto rickshaw.…