Delhi fog hits air traffic, 90 flights cancelled

Dense fog in the national capital Monday led to cancellation of at least 90 flights. The city was hit by the season's worst fog Sunday.

"Since Sunday night to Monday morning the visibility had dropped to a mere 50 metres. At least 52 flights departing from Delhi and 31 arriving have been cancelled," said an official of the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

According to officials, 37 flights departing from Delhi and 188 flights arriving at the capital were delayed, and 52 inbound flights were diverted away from Delhi.

"My flight has been diverted to Ahmedabad, thanks to Delhi fog," Anuja Mohan, who was on her way to Delhi from Dubai, told IANS.

People waiting at the airport complained that the authorities were not providing information about the delays and cancellations.

"Original departure time was 6.40 a.m. It was rescheduled to 8.45 a.m. due to fog. Even about an hour later, nobody bothered to explain what the real problem is," said Dinkar Krishnan, who was travelling to Chennai.

The train operations were also disrupted as fog reduced the visibility to 300 metres in Delhi Monday morning.

According to the Northern Railway, 44 trains en-route to Delhi were running well behind schedule and five have been rescheduled.

Commuters travelling from Delhi to the satellite towns of Noida and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh and Gurgaon in Haryana faced a harrowing time.

The minimum temperature Monday settled a notch below the season's average at 6.6 degrees Celsius. However, the Met Office said the sky will be mainly clear later in the day.

The maximum temperature is likely to hover around 19 degrees Celsius.

Humidity at 8.30 a.m. was 100 percent.

Sunday's maximum temperature settled one notch below the season's average at 19.3 degrees Celsius, while the minimum temperature was a notch above the season's average at 7.8 degrees Celsius.