Chandigarh, January 4
A dense fog and cold wave conditions revived today after a day’s respite and claimed two lives in Amritsar, one in Solan and three in Ambala in the past 36 hours, taking the toll in Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh to 20 since early this week.
A report from Amritsar said Kirpal Singh, who was visiting the Darbar Sahib gurdwara in Tarn Taran to pay obeisance, died due to cold after taking a dip in the holy “sarovar” while a watchman Ram Lakhan, a resident of Bihar, died of severe cold in Valtoha village.
In Ambala, three persons reportedly fell victim to the cold wave at the railway station and Sher Shah Suri Marg.
The body of a beggar was found lying in a rain shelter near Dharampur in Solan district, taking the toll due to the cold wave to three in the state. Earlier, deaths of two persons were reported from Kangra district.
The border district of Amritsar was swept across by icy winds, recording a low of 4.2° C. Srinagar and Jammu reeled under the lows of minus 4.8° C and 4.3° C, three and four degrees below normal, respectively.
The maximum temperature in and around Chandigarh stayed around 11° C till 2.30 p.m., 10 degrees below normal while the minimum rose slightly to 7.8° C.
The night temperature in Shimla rose to the normal of 2.4° C against the previous low of 1.6° C.
Delhiites had a colder morning today with a low of 8°
C while the maximum temperature was six degrees below normal at 15.6°
C.
Rail, road and air traffic were badly hit by a dense fog right from Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir to Suratgarh in Rajasthan, Saharanpur and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, which reduced the visibility considerably.
Indian Airlines and Jet Airways’ to-and-fro flights to New Delhi, Mumbai and Goa were again cancelled today due to poor visibility in and around the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
The fog again disrupted the schedule of trains of Northern Railway. However, New Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi and Himalayan Queen were delayed slightly while Howrah-Kalka and Jodhpur-Chandigarh mail were late by two to three hours.
With western disturbances moving away from the northwest region, the weathermen here have forecast a fall in minimum temperatures under clear skies over the next 24 hours.
The possibility of recurring fog at a few places has been forecast during this period.
UNI
