The Hindu : National : Intense cold wave claims 36 lives in Uttar Pradesh

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Sunday, Dec 18, 2005

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National

Intense cold wave claims 36 lives in Uttar Pradesh

Fog disrupts rail traffic; toll in north mounts to 37

ENDURING THE CHILL: Vegetable vendors enjoy the warmth of a fire in Jammu on Saturday. — Photo: AP

NEW DELHI: The entire North India reeled under an intense cold wave, disrupting rail traffic as the death toll in the current spell rose to 37. With three more deaths the toll in Uttar Pradesh went up to 36.

Low visibility

Several long distance trains on the busy Delhi-Amritsar and Delhi-Jammu routes were running two to five hours late due to fog.

Among these were the Amritsar-bound 3005 Howrah-Amritsar-Howrah Mail running late by about 2 hours; 3049 Howrah-Amritsar Express by 4 hours; Katihar-Amritsar Amrapalli Express by 5 hours; Jammu-bound 5097 Guwahati-Jammu-Amarnath Express by about 4 hours and Chennai-Jammu Express by 5 hours, Railway sources said.

Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 6.6 degrees Celsius and maximum of 22.3 Celsius. The city was enveloped in shallow fog in the morning but the Railways and Airport sources said that there were no delays in trains or flights.

The severe cold wave prevailing in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh on Saturday claimed one more life as the minimum temperature remained up to four degrees below normal in the region. Udham Kaur (77) died of severe cold in the morning at Budh Ram Colony in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab, official reports said in Chandigarh.

According to the Met office, the mercury hovered between one and four degrees below normal in most parts of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. Besides Jalandhar, other towns, including Amritsar and Ludhiana were also in the grip of the cold wave.

Srinagar with a low of minus 5.2 degree Celsius, three degrees below normal was the coldest in the hills and Jalandhar recorded a sub-zero temperature of minus 0.4 degree Celsius, making it the coldest in plains. — UNI

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