Cold wave in Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana kills three
By IANSTuesday, January 5, 2010
CHANDIGARH - Chandigarh and its neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana Tuesday continued to bear the brunt of an intense cold wave that has claimed three lives.
Amritsar in Punjab was again the coldest in this region Tuesday, recording a minimum temperature of 1.2 degrees Celsius. Ludhiana and Patiala cities in Punjab saw a minimum temperature of 7.8 and 8.2 degrees respectively.
The minimum temperature in Chandigarh was 7 degrees Celsius.
According to officials, the cold and icy winds left two people dead in Ambala in Haryana and one person in Amritsar in Punjab late Monday.
“Though the fog has somewhat lowered the day’s temperature, we are expecting a sharp dip in the night temperature in the coming days. This trend will continue for the next 48 hours,” said a Met official here.
He added: “There is a possibility of moderate to heavy showers in most parts of this region in the days ahead, which would bring respite from the dense fog.”
In Haryana, the minimum temperature in Ambala, Karnal and Hisar cities was 6.7, 9.8 and 6.2 degrees Celsius respectively.
The weather conditions have adversely affected the air traffic. Not a single flight has been able to land or take off from Chandigarh airport for the past three days.
Air India, Jet Airways, Go Air, Kingfisher and MDLR are the major airlines that operate from here.
“The airport’s Instrument Landing System (ILS) has been lying defunct for the last few months, and it has further aggravated the situation,” said an official of the Chandigarh airport.
Road traffic on most highways in Punjab and Haryana was reduced to a crawl due to thick fog.
The Chandigarh education department has extended the winter break till Jan 10 for primary classes of all government schools.
The Panchkula administration has directed all government and private schools to open 90 minutes later.
