Cold wave kills 4 in north India

NEW DELHI: The mercury dived dramatically across north India on Sunday, producing a cold snap that killed at least four people in separate places in Uttar Pradesh. One person died in Delhi.



Officials said the dead included two minors and identified one of the four as Munshi Ram (50) in UP\'s Muzaffarnagar district. An unidentified man in his 20s froze to death in the same district. Cops said an infant was among two minors who died in the cold wave at Sirsala in Saharanpur.



A Met official predicted rains in UP in two or three days, which is bound to harden the cold clasp. \"The minimum temperature is around 6-7 degrees,\" he said. Up north in J&K, Leh froze at minus 12.6 degree C against a low of minus 16.4 a day earlier. There was some relief in the Valley with mercury riding due to a cloud cover that returned after a couple of days. Srinagar showed up a low of minus 2.1 degree C, a notch higher than Saturday\'s minus 3.1. South Kashmir\'s scenic resort, Pahalgam, recorded a minimum of minus 4.2 degree C, against minus 2.8 a day earlier. Gulmarg in north Kashmir was the coldest place in the Valley at minus 5.8 degree C.



People in Punjab and Haryana shivered with the mercury close to freezing point in several places. Narnaul in Haryana reeled under 1 degree C onslaught while heavy fog hit normal life at many places. Met officials said the minimum temperature in Narnaul was five degrees below normal. Ambala, too, quivered at a low of 2.3 degree C, down by five notches, while Hisar at 4.6 degree C was down by one degree.



Bhiwani recorded five degree C, down one, while Rohtak was 5.8. The chill also swept across Chandigarh which recorded a minimum temperature of 5.4 degree C, down one. In the rest of Punjab, Amritsar was 4.1 degree C. The cold wave also hit Ludhiana (4.6 degree C). The MeT department said heavy fog had settled on Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala in Punjab and at Hisar, Rohtak in Haryana and affected traffic.



In Rajasthan, Bharatpur and Dholpur woke up to a dense fog cover, which, along with the Gujjar blocking railheads, disrupted normal life. Elsewhere, the state recorded a dip in the maximum temperature, with Mount Abu lower than freezing point at minus 1.2 degree C.
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