The cold wave pounding North India Tuesday eased marginally with temperatures inching upwards at many places even as seven more people died due to the winter chill pushing the death toll this season to 81.
Thousands of harried travellers heaved a sigh of relief as fog cover lifted after a week of chaos, confusion and frayed tempers at airports and railway stations.
Uttar Pradesh, which bore the brunt of the cold fury, accounted for 66 deaths followed by Punjab (12) and Haryana (three). Flight operations at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport were not affected as visibility increased and flights took off and landed on time. Amritsar, where the mercury had been hovering around one degree celsius, recorded a low of four degrees celisus.
Temperatures also increased in other places in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, which were reeling under an intense cold wave. Ludhiana and Patiala recorded minimum temperatures of 6.9 degrees and 6.8 degrees respectively. The mercury rose in Chandigarh which had a low of 7.4 degrees celsius while the minimum temperature settled at 9.8 degrees celsius, up by five degrees, in Hisar in Haryana. Srinagar, which was in the grip of a bone-chilling cold wave with mercury hovering three to five degrees below freezing point, recorded a low of 1.5 degrees celsius.
The cold abated at many places in Himachal Pradesh including Shimla which registered a low of 7.6 degrees. Sundernagar and Bhuntar, where the mercury settled at freezing point, recorded lows of 5.6 degrees and four degrees respectively.
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