Chandigarh, November 7: Visibility took a hit with smog engulfing major parts of Punjab and Haryana on Tuesday. Poor visibility in the wee hours of Tuesday resulted in a harrowing time for both schoolchildren and commuters across Punjab’s Doaba region and Haryana’s Rohtak and Hisar.
In Haryana, dense smog on National Highway-9 hit normal life. Long-distance trains from Bathinda to Delhi via Sirsa and Hisar were reported running late by one hour, while Haryana Roadways cancelled many early morning long-route buses to avoid accidents.
Dr Raj Singh, head of department (HOD) of meteorological and agriculture department at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agriculture University (CCSHAU), said similar conditions will continue for few more days.
PAU assistant agro meteorologist KK Gill said the smog will continue for the next few days, as there are no chances of rainfall.
According to the data compiled by the Haryana Space Application Centre (HARSAC), Hisar, more than 800 incidents of stubble burning have been reported from Fatehabad district only.
Four trains from Jalandhar were delayed due to fog on Tuesday morning. Smog-related accidents in the region have already began — three days ago 14 people were injured in Hoshiarpur after tempo traveller fell in the Kali Bein river after the driver was unable to see the road clearly.
Chandigarh-Delhi operations flight have been severely hit due to shutdown of one of the runways at the Delhi international airport for maintenance work. Out of 12 flights on this route, seven have been cancelled for three days, starting Tuesday. The normal operations will be restored on Friday.
Apart from this, no smog-related delays in the train and flight schedule has been reported from Chandigarh on Tuesday.
On Monday, three people died in road accidents in Ludhiana caused district due to low visibility. Flights from Sahnewal airport have also been disrupted since last Monday.
