Heavy rush of passengers at Jammu Rly Stn
Fayaz Bukhari /
Gopal Sharma
SRINAGAR/ JAMMU, Dec 29: Dense fog continued to paralyze normal life in J&K and other parts of the northern region as train, air and vehicular traffic was again affected today, severely reducing visibility at many parts of the region.
Minimum temperatures were mostly close to normal, but the mercury dropped below the freezing point at many parts of Kashmir and several hilly areas of Jammu region. Foggy conditions were reported from many parts of the region and adjoining Punjab, with visibility in some parts reducing to below 50 metres during morning hours, an India Meteorological Department official said.
He said there was dense fog in parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Haryana. Authorities in Srinagar said the foggy conditions were the “worst in recent memory”.
Visibility improved in Jammu today, after two days of dense to very dense fog. The IMD said the improvement can be attributed to the breaking of the inversion layer in the morning, in contrast to the conditions observed from December 25 to 28.
An official at Jammu airport said that two morning flights of Air India and Indigo were cancelled today while a few during morning time were delayed but majority of the flights operated normally.
Due to rescheduling of time of several trains heavy rush of passengers has been witnessed at Jammu Railway Station. Many trains arrived late by 2 to 19 hours at Jammu station. Humsafar Express was late by 19 hours, Madras Exp 13 hours, Malwa and Jhelum Express late by 12 hours, Rajdhani by 11 hours, Puja Express 9 hrs, Tata Muri 7 hours, Shalimar and Happa Express by 6 hours, Utter Sampark Kranti and Sealdah by 3 hours while Hemkund and Vande Bharat were late by two hours.
Departure of Humsafar Express was 22 hours late from Jammu Railway Station, Puja Exp 8 hrs, Jhelum about 6 hrs and Vande Bharat by 2 hours.
Meanwhile, fog continues to grip Kashmir since Dec 25 with temperatures across the region settling several notches below freezing point.
Dense fog shrouded many parts of Kashmir with the minimum temperature dropping several degrees below the freezing point today. The visibility in Srinagar city and its adjoining areas was hardly a few metres for the fifth day today due to dense fog.
The city and many other places in the Valley have been witnessing foggy conditions over the past week.
Though fog did not affect operations at the Srinagar International Airport, flights arriving from other cities in north India, including Delhi, were delayed due to bad weather conditions there, according to the Airports Authority of India.
Kashmir is currently in the grip of “Chilla-i-Kalan”, a 40-day harsh winter period, when temperatures drop considerably leading to the freezing of water bodies, including the Dal lake, as well as water in supply lines.
The chances of snowfall are the highest during this period and most areas, especially the higher reaches, receive heavy snowfall. “Chilla-i-Kalan” will end on January 31 and will be followed by the 20-day “Chilla-i-Khurd” and the 10-day “Chilla-i-Bachha”.
The minimum temperature in Srinagar settled at minus 3.3 degrees Celsius – same as the previous night.
Pahalgam recorded a minimum temperature of minus 5.4 degrees Celsius on Thursday night.
Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 2.5 degrees Celsius.
Qazigund recorded a low of minus 4.2 degrees Celsius, Kokernag town minus 2.6 degrees Celsius and Kupwara minus 4 degrees Celsius.
Ganderbal, Bandipora and Budgam recorded the lowest temperature of the season at minus 6.7 degrees Celsius. These areas also witnessed very dense fog.
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