North in icy grip, over 50 dead (Roundup)

NEW DELHI/MANALI/LUCKNOW/PATNA - North and parts of east India shivered in bone-chilling cold Monday, killing at least 30 people in Uttar Pradesh and 11 in Bihar since the weekend. The fog did lift in the national capital Monday but fury of the biting wind continued to agonise its citizens.

The cold wave has claimed at least 30 lives in Uttar Pradesh since Saturday, an official said Monday. The met office has predicted no change in the weather for the next two-three days.

“Of the 30 deaths, the maximum have taken place in the eastern regions, including Mirzapur district, Ballia district, where five deaths each were reported Sunday,” an official of the disaster management department in Lucknow told IANS.

“The deaths have also been reported from others districts, including Banda, Fatehpur, Sonbhadra, Chanduali, Kanpur rural (Dehat) and Unnao,” he added.

The situation was no better in Bihar.

At least 11 people have died of the intense cold wave and icy winds sweeping across Bihar in the last couple of days.

“The cold wave has claimed 11 lives and hundreds of people are reportedly suffering from severe cold-induced illnessess,” said an official of the Bihar disaster management department.

Seven people died in Farbisganj in Araria district of Bihar, two in Sheikhpura and one each in Purnea and Darbhanga.

The north Indian states of Punjab, Haryana and the union territory of Chandigarh continued to reel under cold wave conditions Monday and many areas saw intermittent rainfall as well.

The city of Amritsar was the coldest in the region with a minimum of 0.8 degrees Celsius.

Ludhiana and Patiala cities in Punjab were comparatively warmer with minimum temperatures recorded at 7.4 and 7.9 degrees Celsius respectively.

The hill state of Himachal meanwhile witnessed moderate snowfall in the popular tourist resort of Manali.

“Manali received moderate snowfall this (Monday) early morning. It saw four to five inches of snow,” Manmohan Singh, director of the meteorological office in state capital Shimla, said.

He said that Kothi, Marhi, Gulaba and the Rohtang Pass located near this town experienced moderate to heavy snowfall in the past 24 hours.

After a foggy weekend, the fog cover lifted in Delhi Monday but the chill still persisted.

Delhiites woke up to a relatively clear Monday morning. Meteorological officials attributed this to the light showers that the capital had Sunday. But the chill persisted, with a cold breeze adding to it.

“The heavy fog cover has lifted from Delhi and the visibility has improved considerably to above 1,000 metres. This is mainly because of the rain yesterday (Sunday),” an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

“The fog will however return over the next few days,” the official added.

On Monday, Delhiites continued to shiver as the maximum temperature dropped further to 14 degrees Celsius, a whopping 8 degrees below the average. The minimum temperature, however, was 9.6 degrees, nearly three notches above the average, the IMD official added.

“The chilly condition will continue in the national capital for next few days as well. The snowfall in Kashmir valley and Himachal Pradesh is behind the chilling wind in the city,” the official told IANS.

While many in the capital were able to find shelter from the blistering cold, many were left high and dry.

“It’s becoming more and more difficult to tolerate the cold. I can still manage, but I am worried about my child,” said Amoli, who sells trinkets by the roadside for a living.

Raghu Kumar, a night watchman who stays in a slum in south Delhi, said: “I work in a well-to-do neighbourhood and I constantly hear people complaining about the bitter cold. Often I feel like laughing at them - one should come and see life in the slums to see how we battle the cold everyday.”

–Indo-Asian News Service

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