JOIN USUttar Pradesh was in the grip of a severe cold wave with mercury dipping to below normal at several places even as dense fog continued to wreck havoc on air and train traffic besides disrupting normal life.
The Lucknow airport was a picture of chaos with scores of flights being diverted there from Delhi and other places. Airport officials said 20 flights, including an international flight, was diverted to Lucknow.
As the airport had the capacity to park only 24 aircraft, the sudden rush created chaos with thousands of passengers flooding the airport building. Airline officials had to call the staff from their residences to deal with the situation.
Schools up to tenth standard remained closed. Fog had engulfed large parts of the state on Monday morning. Though the weather cleared and visibility improved during the day, the fog returned in the evening.
Trains were also delayed for several hours, causing immense hardship to the stranded passengers. Three deaths were reported in different parts of the state from cold.
Meanwhile, parts of Rajasthan was reeling under intense cold wave and foggy conditions. Normal life was thrown out of gear in the Shekawati region and Ganganagar district in Rajasthan as minimum temperature plummeted to unprecedented lows there.
Ganganagar remained the coldest place in the plains as mercury touched 0.9 degree Celsius, while minimum temperature in Mount Abu touched sub-zero level.