Train services hit in Delhi-NCR, fog takes toll on highways

Around 50 flights were delayed at the Delhi airport on Tuesday, despite officials enforcing low-visibility procedures at 1am. However, no flights were diverted or cancelled, said officials.

Early morning commutes, flights and train operations were hampered in Delhi and its neighbouring cities for a second straight day on Tuesday, as a near-opaque smog cloaked the region, even as weather experts predicted similar conditions for the next two or three days.

A damaged bus after an accident on the Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida on Tuesday morning. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

Thick haze spread across the Indo-Gangetic plain — as smog in urban centres that combined with a band of fog created by meteorological factors of low temperature, high moisture and still winds — blanketed parts of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and even Uttar Pradesh.

With visibility below 100m at many places, several accidents were reported in the region, leaving three people dead and 40 injured in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, and forcing a change in school timings in Punjab.

Around 50 flights were delayed at the Delhi airport on Tuesday, despite officials enforcing low-visibility procedures at 1am. However, no flights were diverted or cancelled, said officials.

An airport official said operations were smooth despite the fog. “Waiting times have been reduced, and since no flights were cancelled or diverted, operations were smooth. There are minor flight delays in some cases, but nothing that impacted operations,” the official said.

According to the Northern Railway, at least 11 trains were delayed by over two hours in the morning.

At 4.30am on Tuesday, the visibility at the Palam observatory (set up inside the Delhi airport) plunged to 25m, and at the Safdarjung observatory to 50m. Delhi experienced its first dense fog of the season on Monday morning.

The Capital recorded a minimum temperature of 6.3°C, lower than 7.2°C on Monday, according to data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Pollution levels, meanwhile, improved marginally, dropping out of the “severe” zone in a day, to the “very poor” zone, with an air quality index (AQI) of 366 at 4pm, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) daily bulletin.

A fog is akin to low-lying cloud and is formed of suspended water droplets, which have condensed due to low temperatures and calm winds. Smog is just fog combined with smoke and other pollutants to turn a thick grey.

Satellite images showed a thick layer of fog over Punjab, Haryana, north Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in the morning.

IMD has issued a yellow alert till December 23, forecasting dense fog to continue in the region in the early hours of the day. A yellow alert is generally issued to alert the public of a weather phenomenon.

RK Jenamani, scientist at IMD, said weather conditions were largely similar on Monday and Tuesday, allowing local pockets of dense fog to form over Delhi. “Currently, the fog is limited to late night and the early hours of the morning, but by 10am, the sun comes out, so the maximum temperature is not yet impacted. A dense fog will remain till December 22 or 23, before reducing in intensity as wind speeds increase,” he said.

IMD classifies fog as shallow when the visibility dips below 1,000 metres, as “moderate” when the visibility is between 200m and 500m, and as “dense” when it is below 200 metres.

It is classified as “very dense” when the visibility is below 50 metres. Both Safdarjung and Palam met this criteria on Tuesday.

While one person died and 24 were injured in a bus-truck collision on the Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida, a truck driver was killed and six others were injured in a pile up on the Bulandshahr-Aligarh road in Arnia.

Taking note of the dense fog, the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday evening stopped plying of state roadways buses at night.

“Due to dense fog and rising mishaps, the government has stopped plying of Uttar Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) buses at night. An order has been issued in this regard to regional managers of the corporation,” state transport minister Dayashankar Singh told reporters.

There were reports of accidents due to low visibility in several other areas in the National Capital Region.Traffic movement was also affected in Punjab and Haryana.

Two police vehicles, which were part of Haryana deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala’s cavalcade, met with an accident on the Hisar-Sirsa Highway, police said. A bodyguard sustained injuries.

All others, including Chautala, were safe, the police said.

Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann announced that all schools in the state will open at 10am from December 21 till January 21 due to adverse weather conditions.

“In view of the safety of school students and teachers because of dense fog in the state, the timing of government, aided, recognised and private schools will be 10 am from 21-12-2022 to 21-01-2023,” said Mann in a tweet.