No respite from cold; death toll rises to 135

New Delhi: There was no let up in the cold wave sweeping north India as dense fog on Wednesday staged a comeback in several parts of the region, killing two more people in Uttar Pradesh, pushing the country-wide death toll this winter to 135.

Delhiites woke up to a foggy morning as the mercury settled to a low of 4.1 degree Celsius, three notches below normal, the MeT office said.

In Uttar Pradesh, two people were killed in Pratapgarh when their car rammed into a truck in dense fog this morning, officials said.

Minimum temperatures hovered below normal in most districts including Kanpur, Agra, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Allahabad and Lucknow divisions, the weather office said.

Severe chill continued to sweep Punjab where Amritsar reeled at a low of minus 1.6 degree Celsius, down by five notches.

Ludhiana, too, was bitterly cold recording a minimum temperature of 0.8 degrees, down by six notches. Patiala's low settled at three degree Celsius, four below normal.

In Haryana, Hisar once again remained the coldest zone registering a low of 0.7 degree Celsius, five notches below normal. Narnaul shivered at 1.5 degree Celsius while Karnal recorded a minimum of 2.4 degrees.

The cold wave in Kashmir continued unabated with Srinagar reeling at minus 4.7 degree Celsius. The remote Leh district of Ladakh region recorded a low of minus 14.4 degrees.

The minimum in Kargil district, also in the mountainous Ladakh region, settled at minus 12.8 degree Celsius, and in scenic Gulmarg at minus 8.4 degrees Celsius. In the desert state of Rajasthan, Sriganganagar was the coldest place, recording a minimum of 1.4 degree Celsius followed by Churu at 1.8 degrees.

Pilani, Bharatpur, Vanasthali and Jaisalmer registered a minimum of 2.7, 3.7, 5.8 and six degree Celsius respectively, whereas Jaipur settled at a low of 7.4 degrees, the MeT office said. In Himachal Pradesh, biting cold prevailed in several parts of the hills, including state capital Shimla, which recorded a low of four degrees.

Meanwhile, in view of the cold wave conditions, Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner PC Meena has ordered change in the timings of government schools in the district.

From tomorrow onwards classes in all government schools in Gurgaon district will start at 9 am and end at 3.30 pm, according to an official release.

Earlier, the school timings were from eight in the morning till 2:30 in the afternoon.