Cold wave hits life and business in Rajastan
By IANSWednesday, January 5, 2011
JAIPUR - Severe cold wave conditions continued in Rajastan Wednesday, hitting normal life in many cities and also affecting the state’s tourism industry.
The minimum temperature was 3 to 4 degrees below average in most places, a weather official said Wednesday.
Jaipur was extremely chilly Tuesday night at 2.6 degrees and it continued into Wednesday morning. The maximum day temperature was 5 degrees below average at 17.5 degrees.
The desert town of Bikaner was the coldest at 1.2 degrees while Mount Abu, the only hill station in the state, recorded a minimum temperature of minus 4 degrees.
The Nakki Lake in Mount Abu is nearly frozen.
The extreme cold conditions have hit the tourist inflow to Mount Abu.
Usually we get good bookings in December and January, but not this time. It must have dropped by 15-20 percent compared to last season,” Navendu Goswami, a tour operator, told IANS.
Pilani and Churu were also chilly at 1.5 and 2.2 degrees respectively. Udaipur, the lake city, was shivering at 3.7 degrees, 3 degrees below average.
The state government has erected make-shift tents and rain baseras for Jaipur’s pavement dwellers.
We have made arangements in 18 places in Jaipur alone where we are providing free food and shelter,” a Jaipur municipality official said.
The extreme cold conditions have also started affecting shopkeepers and street vendors.
My business must have gone down by over 40 percent in the last couple of days as people are preferring to remain indoors,” said Ramesh Sindhi, a readymade garment shop owner in Jaipur.
