New Delhi: Cold wave gripped large parts of
North India on Saturday claiming nine more lives as dense fog
disrupted road and rail traffic at several places.
Nine more people died in cold-related incidents in Uttar
Pradesh taking the state-wide toll to 20 as temperatures fell
appreciably in Gorakhpur, Faizabad and Lucknow.
Three people died each in Azamgarh and Pratapgarh, two in
Ballia and one in Balrampur as thick fog hit road and rail
traffic at many places in the state.
Agra with a minimum of 2.5 degrees Celsius was the
coldest place in the state, the Met office said.
Cold wave tightened its grip in Punjab and Haryana with
mercury dipping up to five degrees Celisius below normal at
many places.
Ambala turned out to be the coldest place in the region
with the minimum temperature settling at 2.3 deg C, down by
five notches.
Hisar and Karnal in Haryana had lows of 2.6 deg C and
4 deg C respectively, witnessing a fall of four degrees each.
In Punjab, Amritsar settled at 2.4 deg C, two notches
below normal. Ludhiana and Patiala had lows of 4.1 deg C and
5.2 deg C respectively.
In Rajasthan, mercury dipped further at many places with
Churu recording a minimum of one degree Celsius.
Sriganganagar recorded a low of 2.7 degrees Celsius,
Pilani 3.2, Vanasthali 4.8 and state capital Jaipur 6.8, the
Met office said.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the cold intesified with the
minimum temperature in capital Srinagar plunging to minus 4.3
degrees Celsius.
The drop in night temperature resulted in freezing of
water supply lines in many areas in the summer capital.
Gulmarg hill resort in north Kashmir recorded a low of
minus 8.2 deg C while Pahalgam shivered at minus 6.6 deg C.
In the remote Leh district in Ladakh region, mercury
plummeted to a low of minus 14 deg C.
A moderate cold wave is sweeping north and western
districts of West Bengal with Kolkata feeling the pinch as
mercury slid to 12.2 degrees Celsius, the lowest this season.
PTI
