New Delhi: In the unrelenting grip of severe cold, north India yesterday continued to shiver due to icy winds while dense fog played spoilsport to travel plans as many trains and flights were delayed or cancelled. It was the coldest December 22 in the national capital in the past five years.
Delhiites woke up to dense fog that reduced visibility to 50 metres. The minimum temperature was recorded at 4.2 degrees Celsius, the Met Office said. Due to poor visibility, 50 trains to the capital were delayed while 12 were rescheduled and one was cancelled, a Northern Railway official said.
The fog also hit flight schedules — 16 departures were delayed, but no flights were diverted or cancelled, said an official at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Delhi Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung made an emotional appeal to Delhiites to help the city’s nearly 60,000 homeless by giving them clothes. He said displaying “yeoman kindness” was a rare opportunity in life.
The Delhi government has set up 221 night shelters for homeless people with basic facilities such as clean drinking water, toilets, blankets, and bedding etc.
Himachal Pradesh continued to be in the grip of a cold wave, with higher reaches of the state experiencing more snow. The minimum temperature in Shimla was 6.2 degrees Celsius, while it was 5.2 degrees Celsius in Dharamsala.
Keylong experienced mild snow and was the coldest in the state at minus 4.3 degrees Celsius.
Manali saw a low of zero degree Celsius, and Kalpa recorded a minimum of minus 0.6 degree Celsius.
The Rohtang Pass (13,050 feet), 51 km from Manali, and the Dhauladhars, overlooking Dharamsala and Palampur towns, also experienced snowfall. Uttar Pradesh continued to shiver as the cold wave intensified, a development that led to the closure of all schools up to Class 12 in state capital Lucknow.
Icy winds from neighbouring Uttarakhand worsened the situation, and the fog virtually paralysed the transport
system. IANS
