LUCKNOW: Biting cold and dense fog continued to disrupt normal life across Uttar Pradesh. The toll in the current cold wave rose to 65 with least 15 deaths reported since Sunday. Though there was marginal rise in the minimum temperature in most parts of the state, a thick blanket of fog and mist since late Sunday night left people shivering.
According to an official spokesman, most of those who succumbed to the cold wave were homeless. Some more trains were canceled on account of the fog, bringing to 15 the total number of trains canceled on the Northern, Northeastern and North Central Railways across Uttar Pradesh.
Not a single train, including the prestigious Shatabdi or Rajdhani Express, was running even close to schedule, and most of the trains were reported to be four to 15 hours late. Almost all flights out of Lucknow were at least a couple of hours behind schedule due to poor visibility at the airport yesterday morning.
The minimum temperature, that had dipped to 4.7 degree Celsius in Lucknow on Sunday, rose to 6.8 degree yesterday morning. It rose to 5 in Agra, 6.8 in Kanpur, 6.7 in Meerut, 6.9 in Varanasi, 7.2 in Gorakhpur and 8.6 in Jhansi. Shahjahanpur was the coldest in the state with the minimum temperature at 4.8 degree Celsius.
