Different day,same story: 2 airlines go off air till Jan10,others look heavenwards for directions

That the Chandigarh airport’s Instrument Landing System (ILS) lies defunct hasn’t helped matters. Airport director Suneel Dutt told Newsline that the situation is worse this winter as the ILS was working last year. “Till the weather clears up,there is nothing that we can do,” he added.

The fog messed up rail operations as well. Most of the trains reached the Chandigarh station behind schedule. The morning Shatabdi reached here two hours late and the Howrah-Kalka Mail was five hours late. The Shatabdi Express from Delhi arrived two hours late,at 1 pm instead of the scheduled 11.05 am. The Lucknow-Chandigarh Sadbhawna Express,scheduled to reach the Chandigarh station at 10.15 am,reached at 1.15 pm. Himalayan Queen reached at 1.30 pm,over two and a half hours behind its scheduled arrival. Mumbai-Kalka Paschim Express too reached three and a half hours late.

The departure of some of the trains was also affected,which included Himalayan Queen,which left the station at 7 pm instead of 5.20 pm.

This,when the cancellation of flights over the last week has meant heavy rush at railway booking counters. The Shatabdi Express and Janshatabdi have no availability of seats these days. “The scenario would continue for a few more days,” said Station Superintendent R K Dutta.

Deluxe buses,like the Haryana Roadways Volvo service,are also running full. Tickets for these have to be booked 48 hours in advance.

Meanwhile,the city got some relief from the cold wave on Thursday with bright sun leading to a rise in the day temperature. The day temperature rose to 16.2 degrees from yesterday’s 15.4. Though this was four degrees below normal,it was still a relief from the cold conditions prevailing for the past one week. The minimum temperature stayed two degrees below normal at 4 degrees. In fact,this is less than the minimum temperature in Shimla that was recorded as 5.5 degrees Celsius. The Met Department has predicted a further rise in temperature in the coming days. Fog is likely to persist.