New Delhi, January 17
Fog yet again hit road, rail and air traffic in the National Capital and its neighbouring areas today. While Delhi witnessed blinding fog coupled with teeth cluttering chill at a minimum temperature of 7.7°C, the rest of the northern region also continued to reel under intense cold wave, with the mercury dipping much below the normal at several places in the eastern and northern India.
It was a harrowing time for scores of passengers stranded at various railway junctions and the Delhi airport due to disruption in schedules of more than 48 flights and nearly 50-70 trains to and from New Delhi.
While, after a temporary respite from biting cold for a couple of days, icy cold winds dragged down the minimum temperature in Amritsar to 0.8°C, three notches below normal, mercury slid to a minimum of 2.2°C in Ludhiana, down 4°C. Even Patiala faced a cold night at 3.7°C, three notches below normal. Severe cold also gripped Chandigarh that bore the chill at a minimum of 4.3°C, down by 2°C.
The Meteorological Department has predicted more fog over the next two days with the maximum and minimum temperature hovering around 15°C and 6°C, respectively, in the National Capital and its neighbouring region. As the day temperature hovered around 14.3°C in Delhi, fog triggered chaos at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the morning, affecting the schedule of 48 domestic and international flights.
As visibility reduced to less than 50 m in the morning, flights had to be operated with the help of CAT-III B instrument landing system, said an airport official.
While around 12 domestic outbound flights were delayed by two to three hours, five others to Mumbai, Bhubaneswar, Aurangabad, Lucknow and Shimla had to be cancelled. Five international flights coming from Dubai, Singapore and Beijing and five
departing flights were also delayed by three hours.
The thick blanket of fog that engulfed North India also badly affected rail traffic, causing delays and cancellation of around 50 trains.
“Nearly 28 trains have been rescheduled and close to 25 trains arrived minimum three hours late. Services on more than 40 routes have been cancelled, many of which remain suspended till January 31,” a senior northern railway official said.
“The backlog is likely to take sometime to clear. We have advised train drivers not to exceed the 30 kmph speed mark in any case, in the fog. Speed inevitably takes a hit, creating a backlog for the coming days,” added the official.
“We were on our way to attend my niece’s wedding, but our train has been cancelled till tomorrow night. We will not be able to attend the ceremony, and if at all, we will reach much late,” said Govind Patkar at the New Delhi railway station.
While the departure of the North-East Express (2506) had been rescheduled by incorporating a delay of 6 hours from 6.40am to 1.00 pm, the Purvottar Express (2502) that was all set for depart today at 11.45 pm will only be able to leave tomorrow around 2.30 am. Similarly, the Rajdhani Express (2302) from New Delhi to Howrah has been rescheduled from 4.20 pm today to 5.30 am tomorrow.
While the Lal Quila Express from Kolkata is running 20 hours behind schedule, the Jammu Mail and the Garib Rath arrived more than six hours late at the Delhi junction.
The death toll due to chilling cold conditions in the region has already crossed the 400-mark this season. A total of 409 cases of deaths due to cold in North India stare back at the authorities in their faces. Nearly 379 casualties have been reported from Uttar Pradesh alone so far.
