Two youths were killed and one was injured when a motorcycle was hit by a truck in Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia amid dense fog, police said on Tuesday, reported PTI. The incident took place in the Ubhaon area on the Gorakhpur-Ballia highway.
The deceased were identified as 19-year-old Ankit and Chandan (20).
Station House Officer, Ubhaon, Rajiv Mishra said the bodies of victims have been sent for a post-mortem examination.
Meanwhile, dense/very dense fog layer extended from Punjab to Bihar across Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday morning, the Indian Meteorological Department tweeted.
Mercury rises in Delhi
In Delhi, citizens got some respite from the nail-biting cold as the mercury rose to 6.4 degrees Celsius against 3.8 degrees Celsius on Monday. However, cold wave conditions continued, and a dense layer of fog engulfed the city lowering visibility to 50 metres, and affecting road, air, and rail movement.
Delhi logged a minimum temperature of 3.8 degrees Celsius on Monday, 1.9 degrees Celsius on Sunday, 2.2 degrees Celsius on Saturday, 4 degrees Celsius on Friday, 3 degrees Celsius on Thursday and 4.4 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.
The Palam observatory near the Indira Gandhi International Airport recorded a visibility level of 50 metres.
Due to dense fog, 39 trains were delayed by an hour to five-and-a-half hours, a Northern Railways spokesperson said.
Flights in these routes – Delhi-Kathmandu, Delhi-Jaipur, Delhi-Shimla, Delhi-Dehradun, Delhi-Chandigarh-Kullu – also got delayed due to fog conditions, reported ANI.
Chilly weather in Delhi since the start of January strained power grids and posed challenges to homeless people. The Delhi government has also extended winter vacations in schools till January 15.
Delhi Air Quality in ‘severe’ category
In view of worsening air quality in the national capital, which dropped to severe category on Monday, the Delhi government has decided to impose a temporary ban on plying of BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel four-wheelers from Tuesday.
“The ban on BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel vehicles will kick in from Tuesday since the air quality has deteriorated in the severe category. We are monitoring the situation along with the Environment department. For now, the ban is likely to be in place till Friday. If the air quality improves, the ban could be lifted before Friday,” said a senior Transport department official.