12 more die in UP despite slight respite from cold

There is some respite from the intense cold wave in most parts of Uttar Pradesh on Monday with bright sunlight at many places.

Icy winds, however, continued to blow here and in neighbouring areas. Twelve more deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, an official said.

The victims included a bus conductor and a young passenger on board the Amrapali Express in Unnao.

The Met forecast a two degrees dip in temperatures in Lucknow and adjoining areas. It also termed the sunny weather on Monday a "temporary phenomenon" to be replaced by cold conditions soon.

The Regional Met office Director J.P. Gupta said that at many places the humidity levels were 100 per cent which could lead to heavy fog and further dip in temperatures.

Schools at many places opened on Monday but the district administration has ordered the timing of the schools to be changed to 10 a.m. for all classes.

More than two dozen trains have been hit by fog and were running hours behind their schedules.

Officials of the Northern Railways (NR), Northern-Central Railways (NCR) and North-Eastern Railways said all possible facilities were being given to passengers waiting at the stations.

The trains that were running late include Kisan Express by five hours; Duplicate Punjab Mail (four); Lucknow Mail (three); Kaifiyat Express (21); Marudhar Express (15); Barauni Express (11); Sabarmati Express (17) and the Vaishali Exprs which is running 17 hours behind schedule.

The fog and cold wave conditions have also hit the road traffic and the Uttar Pradesh State Roadways Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) has cancelled 18 buses owing to poor occupancy.

The AC and non-air-conditioned buses that have been cancelled include buses on the Lucknow-New Delhi, Lucknow-Varanasi, Lucknow-Allahabad and Lucknow-Gorakhpur routes.

Air traffic has also been hit by poor visibility and fog. More than 12 flights of the Air India, Indigo, Go Air and Jet Airways were delayed on Sunday.

Lucknow was the second coldest district on Sunday at 2.6 degrees Celsius while Bahraich was at 2.4 degrees Celsius.

--IANS

md/in