NEW DELHI: At least 17 people died as towns and cities in India’s northern states were hit by cold weather, officials said Friday.
“Sixteen people have died in Uttar Pradesh since early Wednesday due to cold (weather) conditions in the state. Most victims were homeless or pavement dwellers,” state police spokesman G.N. Khanna said.
Police in Jammu, the winter capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, found the body of a worker who also died due to cold.
Temperatures have plummeted in Uttar Pradesh’s main cities such as Kanpur and Agra. They recorded temperatures as low as 1 to 4 degrees Celsius.
Beggars and the homeless had to spend the cold nights with little protection beyond plastic sheets and bags, media reports said. State authorities were distributing blankets and firewood to the poor, police said.
Weather officials said there would be no respite from the cold weather and expect temperatures to fall further over the weekend.
The northern states of Punjab and Haryana were also under the cold spell. The season’s lowest temperature on the plains was reported in Amritsar, which recorded minus 0.2 degrees Celsius.
In the Himalayan region, several parts of Indian Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh recorded temperatures below zero. Winter in India is brief, beginning in mid-December and ending by February.
