Cold wave claims two lives in city

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, January 16

The cold weather claimed two lives in the city on Wednesday.

As per information received from an NGO, volunteers got to know about a homeless person lying unconscious along Sirhind Canal near the Janta Nagar bridge.

When they reached the place, they saw that the person had died, possibly due to cold.

In another incident, a person was found lying in a serious condition at the Mal Godown road in the city. Volunteers of an NGO took him to the Civil Hospital where he was declared dead by doctors.

The cold wave has gripped the region with minimum temperature recorded at 3.2 degree Celcius in the past 24 hours.

As per the data released by the Agri-Met Department of the PAU’s regional centre in Bathinda, the maximum temperature was recorded at 19.2 degree Celsius on Wednesday.

The temperature has fallen in the past 48 hours. The reason for this is the sudden wind blowing from the north.

Snowfall has been witnessed in the higher reaches due to which chilly winds have started blowing.

Minimum temperature has come down further. As such, temperature has fallen all across Punjab. Similar weather conditions will prevail in the next 24 hours.

Homeless persons, including children and elderly, continue to shiver in the biting cold as the district administration has created shelter homes, but it has not taken any initiative to shift them there.

Amritpal Singh, owner of a retail store at Dhobi Bazaar, told Bathinda Tribune, “In the past week, the demand for woollens has increased manifold. Jackets and long coats are more in demand.”

Mayor Balwant Rai Nath said the MCB had made two night shelters, which had enough space to accommodate homeless persons.

However, it is seen that they don’t sleep in the night shelters as they feel they would not be able to get clothes and other things from people, he added.