New Delhi, January 8
Fog engulfed North India today affecting air, train and road traffic severely, as visibility fell as low as 50 meters in Delhi which experienced the lowest maximum temperature in the last five years. All the cities in the region recorded low temperatures with Amritsar recording the lowest temperature at -0.2 degree Celsius.
Though the minimum temperature in Delhi rose to settle at 8 degrees Celsius, the maximum was 12.1 degrees, the lowest in the last five years. The weatherman has predicted no relief from the cold weather conditions. The officials at the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said cold weather conditions would continue over parts of Punjab, Haryana and North Rajasthan during the next 48 hours. Dense fog conditions are also in store for the weekend. As the thick blanket of fog reduced visibility drastically in the capital, 34 domestic and international flights were cancelled along with another 11 flights being rescheduled. Hundreds of passengers crowded outside the
terminals at the domestic and international airports could be seen waiting for confirmation of their flight timings.
Total four international and six national flights were diverted to Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Jaipur and Chennai as anxious relatives kept waiting for the arrivals at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. The capital recorded minimum temperature at 8 degrees Celsius with fog decreasing the visibility causing chock-a-block traffic jams around several parts of the city. The Northern Railways saw almost all its trains affected by the blinding fog.
The railway drivers were again asked to be careful and not exceed speed of train more than 30 km per hour in fog. Important trains that stood cancelled only for today were 2014 Amritsar Shatabdi from New Delhi to Amritsar, 2497 Shan-e-Punjab from Hazrat Nizamuddin to Amritsar, 4581 Intercity Express from New Delhi to Jalandhar, 2460 Amritsar Express from Amritsar to New Delhi and 2480 Intercity Express from Amritsar to New Delhi. Another 23 trains, including Shatabdis, originating from Delhi were rescheduled today.
These included 2013 Shatabdi from New Delhi to Amritsar that was slated to depart at 6:30 pm instead of 4:30 pm, the 2002 Bhopal Shatabdi that was slated to depart at 8 am instead of 6:15 am, the 4095 Himalayan Queen from Hazrat Nizamuddin to Kalka departed at 7:30 am, two hours later. Almost all trains departing or arriving at the Delhi stations were running late. This included 8238 Chhatisgarh from Amritsar to Hazrat Nizamuddin that was running late by eight hours.
The 2414 Jammu Express was running late by more than eight hours. The 2904 Golden Temple from Amritsar to Hazrat Nizamuddin was late by more than four hours. The Toofan Express from Howrah to New Delhi reached Delhi at 7:40 pm around 15 hours late from its scheduled time.
