Cold wave unabated in North India, 24 more die

Plummeting mercury, coupled with thick fog cover, threw normal life out of gear in the entire north India on Monday, with 24 more people succumbing to the chill in various parts of the region.

While 20 more persons died in Uttar Pradesh, four persons lost their lives in Uttarakhand, officials said. Delhi continued to shiver as mercury was below normal in the city by five notches to settle at 2.4 degrees, even as it rose from Sunday's 1.9º celsius.

The maximum temperature too dipped to seven degrees below normal to settle at 13.4º celsius. Met department forecasts a clear sky for Tuesday with fog in the morning.

In Uttar Pradesh, six people lost their lives in Ghazipur, three each in Azamgarh and Barabanki, two each in Fatehpur, Sultanpur and Chandauli and one each in Jaunpur and Siddhartnagar districts.

With this, the death toll in the state this winter has risen to 175. Muzaffarnagar, which shivered at minus 0.7º C, continued to be the coldest place in the state. Agra recorded 0.6º C, Najibabad (Bijnor) 1.0, Lucknow and Aligarh 1.4 each and Kheri 1.6º Celsius, the Met department said.

The entire state was in the grip of biting cold as maximum temperatures too remained below normal by seven to 15 notches in most parts. In Uttarakhand, four women succumbed to the chill in Haridwar, where the minimum temperature touched one degree Celsius. Tehri district was the coldest at 0.5º C, followed by Mukteshwar at 0.4 and Pithoragarh at 0.2º C.

Capital Dehradun also shivered at 1.3º C.