Uttar Pradesh: Fog disrupts normal life, cripples vehicular-rail-air traffic

Fog continued to wreak havoc in most parts of Uttar Pradesh for the second consecutive day on Saturday, officials said.

According to the regional Met Office, a layer of fog has engulfed most parts of eastern, western and central Uttar Pradesh, leading to disruption of rail, vehicular and air traffic.

More than a dozen trains, including Poorva Express, Purushottam Express and the Farakka Express, were running behind schedule due to fog and intense cold wave.

An official of the Northern Railway (NR) however claimed that due to installation of 'fog pass' devices, the situation was much better than previous years.

As many as 6,940 such devices have been fitted in trains all over India, of which NR has 2,648, an official said.

Vehicular traffic has been adversely impacted due to the fog and inclement weather across the state, especially on the national highways, the Yamuna Expressway and the Agra-Lucknow Expressway.

There is report of a car pile up on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway at Khekhda in Baghpat district, leaving a dozen injured.

Snowfall in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir has also contributed to the sharp fall of mercury in Uttar Pradesh.

People were left shivering on Saturday and morning walkers gave their routine a brief adieu due to drop in temperature.

According to sources, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi also cancelled his two-day trip to Amethi, his parliamentary constituency, due to poor visibility and bad weather late on Friday.

The weatherman said the cold wave is here to stay and foggy conditions will prevail for the next few days.