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Cold wave claims four lives in Uttar Pradesh

Photo: Sandeep Saxena

ALL IN A DAY'S WORK: Despite the thick fog engulfing the entire North India, the railway staff at Gurgaon station continue with their routine checking of the trains on Wednesday.

New Delhi: The intense cold wave in north India claimed four more lives on Wednesday as temperatures dipped below normal and fog wreaked havoc with air and rail services.

Three persons died at Mahoba in Uttar Pradesh, taking the toll in the State to 32, and another death was reported from Haryana's Sonepat district.

While, severe cold gripped many parts of Punjab and Haryana, strong winds added to the chill in Rajasthan, where Churu was the coldest place with a minimum temperature of 1.9 degrees.

Road and rail traffic were affected by fog in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and several trains ran behind schedule.

Allahabad, where the `Ardh Kumbh' began on Wednesday, was the coldest spot in Uttar Pradesh at 6.2 degrees. In Agra, the minimum temperature was 6.2 degrees, met officials said.

The State Government directed district magistrates to light bonfires and distribute blankets to the poor to prevent deaths due to the cold.

Cold wave conditions prevailed in most parts of Rajasthan due to ``active north-westerly and north-easterly winds'' though the temperature in Jaipur increased slightly with the city recording a minimum of eight degrees.

The weather office said the mercury was expected to drop further in Rajasthan and that the cold wave would persist in other parts of the region, including Uttar Pradesh.

The night temperature in Amritsar dropped below freezing point at minus 0.5 degrees Celsius, five degrees below the normal range, the meteorological department said. Though visibility improved at some places, Amritsar, Pathankot and Adampur were covered by a thick blanket of fog. Severe cold also swept Ludhiana, where the mercury fell to 1.5 degrees, five degrees below normal, while the low in Patiala was 5.1 degrees, down two degrees. Chandigarh, however, witnessed bright sunshine after a gap of few days. A report from Haryana said the cold wave claimed a man, whose body was found lying on the Sonepat-Rohtak road, taking the toll in the district to 4.PTI

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