Lucknow: At least 31 people have died across Uttar Pradesh due to the intense cold, officials said Tuesday.
A drop in the mercury accompanied with a dense fog delayed trains and forced authorities to shut schools till December 28.
Eight people have died in eastern UP because of the inclement weather since Monday. Six died in the Avadh region, two each in Meerut and Kanpur, seven in Moradabad and six in Aligarh as the cold wave continued unabated.
More than 150 trains here were delayed due to fog and poor visibility. Trains such as Punjab Mail, Saryu-Yamuna Express, New Delhi-Jalpaiguri Express, Kota-Patna Express, Sadbhavna Express, Kumbh Express, Vaishali Express, besides others, were delayed by 10-12 hours, a railway official told IANS.
Flights were also disrupted due to dense fog Monday with the Air India flight from New Delhi delayed by six hours and a Jet Airways flight being cancelled.
A state government spokesman told IANS that authorities have ordered all government aided and private schools in the state to remain shut till December 28.
The minimum temperature here was 5 degrees Celsius Monday. The coldest place in the state at 2.3 degrees Celsius was Meerut, while it was 2.5 degrees Celsius in Muzaffarnagar, and 3.5 degrees Celsius in Varanasi.
The Met Office has said the cold wave condition would continue in the coming days.
A cold wave continued to sweep several parts of Odisha with Phulbani, the administrative headquarters of Kandhamal district, Tuesday recording 3.4 degrees Celsius, the lowest temperature in the state, an official said.
Many of the residents in this town, about 210 kms from state capital Bhubaneswar, were forced to stay indoors throughout the day due to the extreme weather conditions.
Phulbani earlier recorded a minimum temperature of 1.6 degree Celsius Saturday, the lowest reading of this season in the state.
Many other places also recorded low temperatures, including Koraput (7.0) Bhabanipatna (7.2), Jharsuguda (8.9), and Hirakud (9.1), an official of the Bhubaneswar meteorological centre told IANS. Cold wave conditions are likely to prevail in many parts of the state for some more days, he said
The state capital and a few other coastal regions, however, remained relatively warmer. While Bhubaneswar recorded a minimum temperature of 11.2 degrees Celsius, its adjoining city Cuttack recorded 11.5 degrees Celsius.
An official from the office of the state’s special relief commissioner said there has been no report of any death so far due to the cold wave.
Delhi experienced a chilly and foggy Tuesday morning that affected more than 60 trains, arriving and departing from the city.
According to the Met Office, the visibility at 8.30 am was 400 metres.
An official of the Northern Railway said at least 54 trains coming to the city were running late, while 11 trains departing from Delhi were rescheduled due to dense fog.
The minimum temperature settled two notches below the season’s average at 6 degrees Celsius.
Humidity at 8.30 am was 91 per cent.
The Met office has forecast a chilly day ahead in the city.
“The sky will remain clear throughout the day...Light fog will return in the evening,” said an official of the India Meteorological Department.
The day’s maximum temperature is likely to hover around 17 degrees Celsius.
Monday was the coldest December 22 in five years in Delhi as the minimum temperature dipped four notches below the season’s average to 4.2 degrees Celsius, while the maximum settled at 15.8 degrees Celsius, six notches below the average.