Cold wave, fog persists in Punjab, Haryana

Chandigarh, Jan 9: Cold weather conditions continued to prevail in Punjab and Haryana with a thick blanket of fog engulfing most of the places in both the states, affecting rail and road transport. Dense fog blinded most of the places in Punjab and Haryana, reducing visibility to below 50 meters at several places including Patiala, Amritsar.

Foggy weather also affected rail and air traffic to and from UT Chandigarh. One flight between Bangalore and Chandigarh which was supposed to arrive at 12:55 pm here was declared cancelled.

Two flights between Delhi and Chandigarh were also running behind schedule by up to 45 minutes. Among trains, long distance Unchahar Mail Express train between Allahabad and Chandigarh was running late by 3 hours 44 minutes while superfast train from Lucknow to Chandigarh was behind schedule by one hour 37 minutes.

A passenger train between Ludhiana and Chandigarh was behind schedule by one hour 27 minutes. MeT department has predicted thick fog conditions in Punjab and Haryana which may reduce visibility by less than 200 meters.

Amid biting cold conditions, Amritsar city was the coldest place in the region with a minimum of 3 deg C, a MeT department report said today.

Among other places in Punjab, Ludhiana and Patiala had minimum of 7.7 deg C and 8.1 deg C respectively, up by two notches above normal each.

Experiencing piercing cold conditions, UT Chandigarh recorded a low of 6.8 deg C. In neighbouring Haryana, Narnaul had a low at 5 deg C, followed by Hisar at 5.8 deg C, Bhiwani at 6.2 deg C, Ambala at 7 deg C and Karnal at 7.2 deg C.

PTI