• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) formed a committee to look into the alleged erosion of Yamuna floodplain due to movement of heavy vehicles in Haryana`s Sonipat district.

• A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel constituted a committee comprising the principal secretary of the Haryana Irrigation and Water Resources Department, member secretary of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board and the director of the Mines and Geology Department.

• The nodal agency for coordination and compliance will be the principal secretary of the Haryana Irrigation and Water Resources Department. 

• The tribunal said the committee would submit a joint report within one month by e-mail so that matter can be taken up before the monsoon. The next hearing in the matter is due on May 24.

 

 

• The death toll from the cyclone that ripped into southern Africa last month is now above 1,000. Zimbabwe`s Information Minister said the toll in his country has risen to 344.

• Mozambique has reported 602 deaths while at least 59 people have died in Malawi. Efforts are now confined to recovery of bodies and identifying the deceased. A final death toll is yet to be established.

• Cyclone Idai smashed into the coast of central Mozambique last month. It unleashed hurricane-force winds and rains that flooded the hinterland and drenched eastern Zimbabwe leaving a trail of destruction.

• The World Food Programme declared the flood crisis a level three emergency, putting it on a par with crises in Yemen, Syria and South Sudan.

• More than two million people have been affected in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and in Malawi where the storm started as a tropical depression.