Cold wave hits life in Rajasthan

Intense cold conditions continued to hit normal life in the desert state of Rajasthan Monday.

Though minimum temperatures went up moderately in some parts of the state, fog hit train and flight services in the state.

Mount Abu, the only hill station in the state, was the coldest place, recording the minimum temperature of 2 degrees celsius, 2 degrees below what is normal there for this time of the season. Pilani was shivering at 3.8 degrees celsius, one degree below the season's normal.

Churu and Bikaner recorded minimum temperatures of 4.2 and 4.5 degrees celsius respectively.

State capital Jaipur recorded 6.4 degrees celsius, 2 degrees below normal.

Morning fog affected both train and flight services in the state.

"At Jaipur airport, morning flights were not operated due to fog and the regular operations only started after 12 noon," an airport official told IANS.

Early morning international flights were rescheduled and started off only in the afternoon. Some of the morning domestic flights were also affected. Some of the trains were running behind schedule due to fog.

Fog is here to stay for the next 24-48 hours, said Meteorological Department officials.

"Fog would occur at many places over Rajasthan and temperatures would continue to hover around present levels in the next 24 hours," a weather department official said.