Intense cold wave, fog disrupts flights, train schedules across North India

The cold wave continues to sweep across most parts of North India, incluidng national capital New Delhi and the NCR region, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, besides disrupting schedules of flights and trains.

Mercury levels have dropped significantly at most places.

In Uttar Pradesh, most parts are enveloped in fog, crippling road and rail communication.

Over three dozen trains are running late and the schedule of several flights have been changed.

The Met Office has predicted that similar weather condition will continue in the coming days.

So far, it is being reported that 18 people have died because of the severe cold and fog in Uttar Pradesh alone since Wednesday. The overall toll has risen to 70.

Deaths have been reported from Jaunpur, Mirzapur, Bhadohi, Varanasi, Chandauli and Ghazipur.

Muzaffarnagar, Shahjahanpur and Lucknow have been declared among the coldest places in the state, with minimum temperatures ranging between 2.2 to 2.5 degrees Celsius.

A dense fog engulfed New Delhi this morning, due to which operation of some flights and trains were affected.

The Met department said, the visibility was reduced to 500 meters leading to the delay of around dozen of domestic and International flights. Over 50 Delhi-bound trains are reported to be running late due to the foggy weather conditions.

Sixty-one trains, including the Patna Rajdhani, the Bhubneshwar Rajdhani Express, the Purushottam Express and the Taj Express were affected.

Six trains, including the Jalandhar Express and the Amritsar Express were also cancelled.

Due to the late arrivals of trains, the Railway has rescheduled the departure time of more than dozens of trains.

Low visibility has also affected flight operations at the Indira Gandhi International Airport and eight flights were cancelled.