Lucknow: The return of a cold wind and a sharp fall in the day temperature disrupted rail, air and road services across Uttar Pradesh Monday. The state administration has ordered the closure of all educational institutions for two more days until Jan 13.
After a brief sunny spell for two days, a thick overcast sky has again engulfed large parts of Uttar Pradesh, where freezing cold conditions and fog have forced a delay in schedules of both trains, flights as well as road transport.
While Mirzapur recorded the state`s lowest temperature at 4.2 degrees Celsius Monday, the mercury dipped to 7.1 degrees in the state capital here.
"The day temperature in Lucknow registered an all time fall of 11 degrees below normal," Lucknow Met director RK Gupta told reporters.
He said: "Weather conditions are likely to continue like this for the next 48 hours."
Fog has been responsible for persistent delays in flights over the past few days. A Sharjah bound Air India flight from Lucknow got delayed by more than 24 hours. Scheduled to depart Saturday evening, the flight left Lucknow around 8 pm Sunday.
As many as two dozen trains were running 5 to 26 hours late on account of the adverse weather conditions, while three important Delhi bound trains were cancelled. These included the Kashi Vishwanath Express that travels between New Delhi and Varanasi.
Two special trains - one running between Lucknow and New Delhi and the other between Varanasi and Jammu Tawi - have also been cancelled "till further notice".
Passengers had no choice but to find a spare corner at over-crowded platforms for the long wait for their respective trains.
"What is worse that even the enquiry services were so poorly run that no correct information was available, leading to a longer wait and more confusion," remarked Shiv Charan, a 57-year-old passenger, who has been stranded at the Lucknow railway station since Sunday evening.
"It is beyond our control; the weather is so unpredictable and trains are getting stuck on account of sudden dense fog at many places during the night," a senior railway officer said.
IANS
