New Delhi: The cold wave in north India claimed 29 more lives, taking the toll to 258 this winter, as icy winds swept across the region and dense fog affected movement of air, rail and road traffic on Sunday.
Twenty-seven people died overnight in Uttar Pradesh while two persons died in Jalandhar in Punjab, official
sources said.
In Uttar Pradesh, the cold claimed six lives in Banda, as four deaths were reported from Jaunpur, three deaths each from Maharajganj and Mahoba, two each from Siddharth Nagar, Mirzapur, Faizabad and Muzaffarnagar and one each from Bareilly, Farukkhabad and Badaun, they said.
Meanwhile, after a marginal rise yesterday, temperatures dipped again at many places in the northern region with the low settling at 1.8 degree celsius in Amritsar and minus 1.2 degrees in Mount Abu.
In Punjab and Haryana, fog considerably reduced visibility at many places, including Chandigarh, Pathankot, Adampur, Halwara, Ambala and Sirsa, the Met office said.
Air traffic remained suspended and many trains in the two states were reported running late till up to eight hours.
The Met office said Chandigarh had a minimum temperature of 6.6 degree celsius, Ambala 5.5 degrees and Ludhiana 7.4 degrees.
In the national capital, the minimum temperature fell from yesterday`s 9 to 8 degrees while the maximum stood at 12.6 as against 12.1 degrees the previous day.
The Met office said Hamirpur, which recorded a low of 5.2 degrees, was the coldest place in Uttar Pradesh.
In Rajasthan, the hill station of Mount Abu was the coldest at minus 1.2 degrees followed by Sikar at two degrees.
It was 2.7 degrees in the Pink City and the mercury settled at a low of 2.7 degrees in Dholpur, 3.2 degrees in Bikaner and 4.4 degrees in Jaisalmer.
Many morning trains were delayed at Jaipur station, and roadways buses seen stranded on the highways connecting Jaipur-Delhi, Jaipur-Agra, Jaipur-Kota, Jaipur-Ajmer and Udaipur this morning.
Water froze in the supply pipelines in Sikar, Dholpur, Sawaimadhopur, Jaipur and Mount Abu.
In Himachal Pradesh, the mercury saw a marginal rise even as the higher reaches continued to remain in the grip of intense cold.
The Queen of the Hills experienced a sunny day, recording a night temperature of 5.1 degrees in comparison to yesterday`s 4.2 degrees, the Met office said.
Elsewhere in the state, Sundernagar had a minimum of 0.8 degrees while it was 0 degree in Bhuntar.
Keylong, the headquarters of Lahaul-Spiti, was the coldest place at a low of minus 11.9 degrees while it was minus 5.9 degrees in Kalpa in Kinnaur district.
In Jammu and Kashmir, Leh was the coldest in the state at a chilling minus 21.4 degrees, followed by Kargil at minus 17 degrees.
Srinagar had a low of minus 4.6 degrees and in Jammu, the minimum was 5.3 degrees.
PTI
