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Cold
wave grips northern India
New
Delhi: Cold wave gripped north India as dipping temperatures
and dense fog made life difficult for the people. In several
towns in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir,
there was less movement on roads as people chose to remain
indoors due to the biting cold. Thick fog enveloped the
cities and people huddled around fires in the villages
to warm themselves. Covered in thick woolens, the residents
braved the winter chill as they went about their work
amid a cover of fog. Number of students in schools and
colleges declined as youngsters preferred to stay indoors.
Although it was one of the warmest winters in Delhi on
Wednesday, the fog continued to play havoc with flight
and train schedules.
"Today,
it is very cold and the fog is also there. The number
of students has also dropped as they are not coming because
of the cold," said Poonam Gupta, a resident of Gorakhpur.
A thick fog engulfed Jammu hitting train and air services
in the region. Many flights were cancelled following poor
visibility due to the fog. The flights scheduled for Srinagar
and Jammu, were cancelled while one of the Delhi-bound
flight landed 45 minutes late from its arrival time. Likewise,
the train service was also affected, forcing passengers
to spend long painful hours at the railway station in
the biting cold. "We are facing lot of problems. There
is dense fog due to which the trains are running late.
It is also very cold here. We are reaching late for our
destinations due to the delay in trains' running time,"
said Pradeep Kapoor, a passenger in Jammu. Many trains
were arriving four to six hours behind their scheduled
timings and the railway authorities in Jammu said, they
were, on their part, ensuring that the corresponding trains
left on time from the city. "For past two three days,
there has been dense fog and the trains are arriving late
by four to six hours. But we are trying to ensure that
their corresponding trains leave on time," said Ashok
Kumar Sharma Divisional Traffic Manager, Jammu (DTM).
Meanwhile, the meteorological authorities in Jammu and
Kashmir warned the residents to take precautions hinting
at the weather conditions worsening in future.
-Dec
31, 2008
