M A I N   N E W S

Icy winds, fog throw life out of gear

Chandigarh, January 2
Cold weather has claimed at least four lives while icy winds and intense cold wave with dense fog sweeping across north-west India disrupted air, rail and road services for another day today as people in and around Srinagar shivered with minimum dipping to the lowest of minus 5.4°C, three degrees below normal.

Thick fog dislocated the normal schedule of national and international flights from the New Delhi for hours together while many a train ran one to four hours behind schedule.

The dense fog, barring Leh and Srinagar, disrupted life right from Udhampur and Jammu to the plains of Punjab, Haryana, National Capital Territory of Delhi, parts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh for the third successive day.

Reports from Hisar in Haryana and Hoshiarpur in Punjab said two and one persons were killed respectively in road accidents due to fog while one person succumbed to the cold wave near Pathiar village in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh yesterday. With this the toll in Himachal Pradesh has risen to three.

The cold wave swept the tribal districts of Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur as the mercury hovered around 10°C to 15°C below freezing point. Various natural water sources and lakes have frozen in the area, a Shimla report said.

Indian Airlines Station Manager B.P. Nautiyal said fully booked weekly flight to Leh in Ladakh had to be cancelled due to poor visibility today. Weather permitting, the Leh bound passengers would be provided an alternate flight from New Delhi day after, he added.

He said Indian Airlines and Jet Airways to and fro flight to Delhi, Mumbai and Goa stayed suspended for the third day today.

The trains which were badly hit by the fog included Howrah-Kalka Mail, New Delhi-Chandigarh-Kalka Shatabdi, Himalayan Queen, Mumbai-Kalka Pashcim Express, Jodhpur-Kalka mail and Lucknow-Chandigarh passenger.

While most of the trains were hit by fog, the down trains emanating from Kalka, Amritsar, Ferozepore and Ambala moved out in time but were stranded on way due to poor visibility.

While the sun shone in most of Himachal Pradesh giving some relief to people in Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana braved icy winds under foggy conditions and partly overcast skies.

The day temperature in and around Chandigarh today hovered around 11.6°C, about 10 degrees below normal while during night mercury rose slightly to 8.2°C, one degree above normal. Ambala and Hisar reported the lows of 7.3°C and 6.2°C respectively.

Ludhiana and Patiala were cooler by one degree each at 5.1°C and 6.4°C, respectively. Amritsar, however, had the night temperature rising by two degrees above normal to 5.6°C.

People in and around Jammu, shivered at 3.6°C.

Shimla and Bhuntar shivered under the lows of 1.4°C and 0.2°C, respectively. UNI