Icy winds sweep region, 18 die of cold

NEW DELHI, Dec 28 (PTI) — Icy winds swept parts of northern India today sending the mercury plummeting amid reports of 18 deaths so far in the current cold spell while dense fog disrupted flight and train schedules and interfered with road traffic.

Chandigarh was the coldest city in the northern plains with the day temperature dipping to 1.8 degrees celsius, the lowest in two years. The Union Territory had recorded the lowest temperature of one degree celsius on December 14, 1996.

Intense cold and foggy conditions prevailed not only in Delhi but in the plains and hills of Uttar Pradesh, and parts of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

While reports from Lucknow spoke of 16 deaths so far, with three more deaths in Badaun, the cold spell claimed its first two victims in Rajasthan, where one each died in Jaipur and Dungarpur district. Dabok near Udaipur registered the lowest temperature of five degree celsius despite a slight improvement in night temperature.

Cold wave conditions in parts of Uttar Pradesh have aggravated with fresh snowfall in Kumaon and Garhwal hills which disrupted road traffic stranding tourists in several places.

Mercury dipped to minus five to 10 degrees celsius in Chamoli district with Niti and Mana valleys recording heavy snowfall during the past few days.

In Chamoli, normal life came to a standstill with small towns and villages covered by a thick blanket of snow.

The famous skiing resort Auli in Joshimath lay under three to five feet of snow, reports from Lucknow said.

Meanwhile, the plains of Uttar Pradesh experienced intense cold with Muzaffarnagar recording a minimum of four degrees celsius.

Dense fog enveloped Delhi, Punjab and Haryana reducing visibility to a few metres as people braced themselves against icy winds.

Fog and inclement weather forced the Northern Railways to cancel or reschedule several of its train services while those operated were running behind schedule.

No flight could take off from the Indira Gandhi International Airport till mid-day due to bad weather, airport sources said.

Indian Airlines might operate few additional flights during the day to clear the passenger backlog provided the sky cleared up, an Airlines spokesman said.

Most of the trains passing through the city were also running much beyond schedule though there were no cancellations.

Three trains including the Mumbai Rajdhani, Magadh Express, Howrah Janata and Nizamuddin-Mumbai special trains, were rescheduled for this morning. Railway authorities attributed the rescheduling to "late running of the link rakes."

Meanwhile icy winds continued to sweep Delhi with the temperature dipping to five degrees, the second lowest this season, yesterday. Dense fog also threw road traffic out of gear with vehicles moving at a very slow pace.

Railway authorities rescheduled nine trains from Delhi, including Poorva Express, Howrah Rajdhani and Mumbai Rajdhani.

While Poorva Express will now leave New Delhi at 7 p.m. instead of 4.25 p.m., Mumbai Rajdhani will leave New Delhi at 1.50 p.m. tomorrow and Howrah Rajdhani at 9.10 p.m. instead of 5 p.m., a Northern Railway spokesperson said.

Magadh express has been rescheduled from 8 p.m. 11.50 p.m. Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express from 5.15 p.m. to 6.50 p.m., Sadbhavana Express from 4.45. p.m. to 8.30 p.m., Howrah Janta Express from 3.50 p.m. to 6.10 p.m., Goa Express from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. and August Kranti Express from 4.55 p.m. to 7.10 p.m.

Firozpur-Mumbai Janta Express and Suchkhand Express have been cancelled due to abnormal late running of link rakes of these trains due to dense fog.

Northern Railway will run a special train between Nizamuddin and Mumbai to clear the extra rush of passengers. The train will leave Nizamuddin on December 31 and January 3 and from Mumbai on December 30 and January 2, the spokesperson said.