The cold wave that has swept through north India, reducing visibility considerably, has thrown normal life off gear. The fog has resulted in train and flight delays besides reducing the flow of traffic on roads and highways.
Four people were killed Monday morning when a Rajkot to Nepal-bound bus, which was carrying 60 passengers, rammed into a truck on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao on Monday due to dense fog conditions, Superintendent of Police Shashi Shekhar Singh. The accident occurred in Auras area at around 5:30 AM.
Three male passengers of the bus died on the spot, while one woman succumbed to her injuries on the way to the hospital. Six people who were injured were hospitalised.
Singh said that efforts were on to identify the deceased, and the bodies have been sent for post-mortem.
Delhi shivers at 3.8 degrees celsius
Dense to very dense fog was observed in most places over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh as well as Delhi. The national capital on Monday witnessed cold wave conditions for the fifth consecutive day as dense fog reduced visibility to just 25 metres, affecting road, rail and air traffic services in Delhi. The Safdarjung observatory, Delhi’s primary weather station, recorded a minimum of 3.8 degrees Celsius as against 1.9 degrees on Sunday.
The IMD said at Chamba in Uttarakhand temperature plummeted to 8.7 degrees, Dalhousie (9 degrees), Dharamshala (9.2 degrees), Shimla (10.3 degrees), Manali (6 degrees), Kangra (8.9 degrees), Dehradun (6.5 degrees), Mussoorie (11.3 degrees), Nainital (6 degrees), Mukteshwar (7.6 degrees) and Tehri’s temperature stood at 9.2 degrees, according to the IMD.
Delhi recorded a minimum temperature lower than that of most places in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand for five days on the trot. Meteorologists attribute the long spell of intense cold to a large gap between two western disturbances, which meant frosty winds from the snow-clad mountains blew in for a longer-than-usual period.
The visibility levels dropped to 50 metres at the Palam observatory, near the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport at 8:30 AM, and 25 metres at the Safdarjung observatory and the Ridge weather station, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
In Punjab’s Bhatinda, visibility stood at zero metres, in Amritsar and Patiala 25 metres each, in UP’s Agra it stood at zero metres, in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi the visibility stood at 25 metres, according to the IMD.
People, as well as animals, were seen huddling near bonfires to find some respite from the prevailing cold wave conditions across north India. In view of the chilly weather, the Delhi government has extended winter vacations for schools till January 15.
Several trains delayed
Due to bad weather, a total of 267 trains were cancelled, an official from Railways said.
Till 11 am, a total of 170 trains were running late and out of 170 trains, 91 trains (54 per cent) were running late due to weather conditions, the Indian Railways said, reported ANI.
Five flights were diverted and 30 delayed due to the foggy conditions, officials at IGI said.
Temperature dips below 4 degrees
Narnaul in Haryana recorded a minimum temperature of 2.4 degrees celsius on Wednesday, the IMD said. Gaya in Bihar recorded a temperature of 3.7 degrees Celsius, while in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, the mercury fell to 3.5 degree Celsius.
In Umaria in east Madhya Pradesh, the temperature dropped to 2.5 degrees Celsius.