Title - Fog blankets freezing Ludhiana

LUDHIANA: The thick fog which turned denser than Saturday added to the chill in the city and threw train schedules off track on Sunday.Surinderpal, director of Meteorological Department, Chandigarh, said, "The fog reduced the visibility to less than 100 metres in Ludhiana. The foggy conditions are likely to continue for the next couple of days." He added, "The fog is being caused due to low temperature during the night hours." The minimum temperature remained at around 5.2 degrees celsius while the maximum hovered at 21 degrees Celsius.As the thick fog blanketed the city, the arrival and departures of many trains from Delhi got delayed.S S Salaria, deputy station superintendent, said, "The arrival of Amritsar Shatabdhi from Delhi was delayed by about an hour and 30 minutes and the train reached here around 1pm. Among the other trains which reached Ludhiana late included Malwa (three hours), Hawrah Mail (6 hours), Modi, (7 hours), Sealdah (6 hours). The departure of Amritsar Shatabdhi from Ludhiana to Delhi got delayed by 15-20 minutes only whereas other trains from the city were running on time. The delay in train's arrival was due to thick fog along the way from Delhi to the city." Meanwhile, the city residents shivered in the biting cold and many of them preferred to stay indoors as Sunday was a holiday. Jasmeet Kaur, a homemaker who stays in Sarabha Nagar, said, "It was thick fog in the morning and we found it very hard to see beyond a distance. It was also freezing. As it was a Sunday, so we preferred to confine ourselves to our house."Another resident Anshu Arora, a student of BRS Nagar, said, "When I woke up this morning and saw out, it was foggy so I snuggled into my blanket. It seems the fog will continue in the city and the cold will get more intense."