Cold and fog hit life in Rajastan
By IANSFriday, January 7, 2011
JAIPUR - Cold wave conditions affected normal life in Rajasthan Friday as the mercury plummeted further in many parts of the state, officials said.
Bikaner was freezing at zero degree, five degrees below the average Thursday night. Even the day temperature Friday could touch only 12.5 degrees Celsius, 10 degrees below average. Pilani was also bitterly cold at 0.5 degrees.
The tourist town of Jaisalmer shivered at 1.1 degrees, six below average.
State capital Jaipur had a low of 4 degrees, warmer than Wednesday’s 1.4 degrees. Rajasthan’s only hill station Mount Abu remained at minus 2 degrees.
Foggy conditions continued to affect road and air traffic in the state. Jaipur airport authorities said the dense fog delayed at least six morning flights.
The state government has already declared five days’ holiday for schools, which will open only next Monday.
According to the weather office, the cold wave will continue. “Ground frost would occur over isolated pockets of north Rajasthan,” an official said.
The cold weather conditions have now started to affect the standing winter or Rabi crop.
“Though we have still to get details from all over the state, preliminary reports suggest that standing crops like mustard and jeera (cumin) have been hit by extreme cold weather conditions”, said an agriculture department official.
Rajasthan, with a contribution of around 40 percent, is the largest producer of mustard in the country.
