Cold waves in northern India claim 204 lives

New Delhi/ Uttar Pradesh/ Punjab/ Haryana/ Rajasthan/ Bihar, Jan 8 (ANI): The cold waves continue to disturb normal life across north India and the death toll due to the extreme harsh weather is now reported to be over 204.

All the nine fresh deaths were reported from Uttar Pradesh taking the death toll in the state to 40. Meerut recorded a temperature of 3.4 degree Celsius, the coldest in the state.

Dense fog has added to problems of the people in the region. Poor visibility has disrupted rail, road and air traffic at several places in the region.

In Delhi, a foggy Friday morning brought bad news for air travelers as around four domestic flights have been delayed and several others cancelled.

The office of the Meteorological department has warned of a thick fog in the capital.

On Thursday, around 20 flights were delayed by two to three hours.

Several international flights were also hit on Thursday with runway visibility dropping down to barely 50 meters. The international flights were diverted to Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bhopal.

Several trains have also been hit due to the foggy weather. Around 50 trains have been cancelled.

Several trains, which have been rescheduled due to the bad weather, are Bhopal Shatabdi, Neelanchal Express, North East Express, Orissa Samapark Kranti Express and Himalayan Queen.

The dense fog has disturbed normal life in Punjab and Haryana as well with visibility reduced to a few meters.

In Punjab, all schools have been closed till January 8 due to the cold.

There are reports that the foggy weather has disturbed rail and road traffic in Jaipur.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had on Tuesday ordered all schools to be closed for three days in view of the cold.

Railways have cancelled around 19 trains till January 31 due to the prevailing foggy weather conditions in north India. The trains that have been cancelled till January 31 are New Delhi-Sitamarhi Lichchvi Express, Lucknow-Saharanpur Express, Katihar-Amritsar Express, Jhansi-Lucknow Intercity, Gaya-New Delhi Mahabodhi Express and Amritsar-Howrah Express. (ANI)