Fog disrupts road traffic in Punjab

Road transport was badly hit in Punjab as a thick fog reduced visibility to a substantially low level today. Vehicular traffic was badly hit on the national highway connecting Amritsar this morning, with the state's traffic police struggling to guide motorists. "Today, it's really cold, there is so much fog that it took me one and a half hour to come to Amritsar from my home town. Here also there is so much fog...thankfully we reached here on time and are trying to help people avoid accidents. Tourists are here, they don't know where it's no entry, and they can't see, so they go in wrong directions. We are hoping people don't lose their way...we are trying to help them," said Harjinder Singh, a Punjab Traffic Police constable. Several regions of Punjab and Haryana experienced foggy conditions. Temperatures in Amritsar were two degrees below normal.

Locals said they had a tough time negotiating their way through the dense fog to their respective destinations, and felt that it was perhaps the coldest day in the season. "Today, it's very cold, there is so much fog. It's the coldest till date," said Rosy, a local. Foggy conditions across northern India over the past few days have resulted in scores of flights and trains getting either delayed or cancelled. Apart from transport delay, the poor visibility on the roads has led to some serious road accidents. While the mercury levels in South Asia are mild compared to Europe, they can prove deadly in India where thousands are homeless or live in shacks without heat. The lack of good food also worsens the impact of the cold, lowering body heat and leading to hypothermia.

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