Cold Wave: UP toll rises to 60; dense fog in northern parts

New Delhi, Jan 1 (UNI) The death toll due to cold wave mounted to 60 in Uttar Pradesh while dense fog enveloped most of the northern region of the country today, reducing visibility to near zero level disrupting air, rail and road traffic.

The entire state of Uttar Pradesh reeled under the cold wave for the third consecutive day and according to the weatherman, it would continue for some more days.

The toll due to cold mounted to 60, following the death of four more people.

A report from Gorakhpur said police recovered the body of an unidentified person aboard Durg Express train. Another person died of cold under Khorabar police station area. Two others died in Bareilly due to severe cold gripping the area.

The met office told UNI that Allahabad at 5.3 degrees C, 4 degrees below normal, was the coldest place in the state.

A report from Kanpur said people were facing hardship due to heavy load shedding.

All major trains, including Kanpur bound Chauri Chaura Express and Lucknow-bound Ganga Gomti Express were running late.

Due to dense fog, vehicles moved slowly on highways. Weathermen attribute the dense fog to the ground frost conditions prevailing over isolated pockets of Punjab, North Haryana and North Rajasthan.

In Punjab, Jalandhar witnessed a cold New Year with the mercury recorded at 2.4 degrees at the Adampur airport this morning.

Amritsar recorded a minimum of three degrees, while Ludhiana and Pathankot recorded 3.2 and 6 degrees respectively.

Dense fog prevailed in the region, adversely affecting the rail services on Delhi-Amritsar and Delhi-Jammu routes with most of the trains running four to nine hours behind schedule, a railway spokesman told UNI.

The national capital witnessed the lowest maximum temperature of this season at 14 degrees.

The dense fog reduced visibility to as low as 10 m at around 0530 hours which disrupted flight schedules. Arrival of about 40 flights, including 23 International flights, was delayed by four to five hours, a spokesperson of the Airports Authority of India said.

The fog led to cancellation of many flights while departure of nearly 30 flights, including seven International flights, was delayed.

However, Rajasthan began the New Year on a bright note amidst sunshine and a rise of temperature in several parts of the state with Jaipur recording 5.6 degrees.

Ganganagar was the coldest place in the state at 4.5 degrees.

Churu recorded 7 degrees, Udaipur 8, Jaisalmer 9.4, Bikaner 11.1, Ajmer 11.7 and Kota 13 degrees.

UNI