Title - Fog, cold hit life in Purnia, Kosi divisions

PURNIA: The Sun has not come out for six days now, and the weather gods have been relentlessly unkind as bone-chilling winter has taken every body within its cruel sweep. The vast swathe of Purnia and Kosi divisions remain wrapped under thick blanket of fog. Weatherman in Purnia did not indicate a reprieve when he said that foggy days, which set in on December 10 are likely to persist till January 10 with the same intensity. Better relief can be expected only after January 22, 2013, says the weatherman. "It pinches me to drag myself out of the warm quilt and get ready for school in the early hours", says Adya Sharat, a Class VII student in Purnia. His school has re-scheduled its timing by convening classes at 8.40 am on the direction of Purnia district magistrate."But, the icy winter hurts our bones," says Yash Kumar. Many schools have either closed down ahead of the X'Mas and New Year's Day, or have re-scheduled their timings in Purnia. The Purnia DM N Saravan Kumar has ordered bonfires at many of the roundabouts in the town and also in remote villages. This is, however, of little solace. "How do we sit before the bonfires and warm up when our children and family members, living in grinding poverty, expect us to earn two square meals for themselves," says Mohammad Ismail, who works at a house construction site in Purnia.

The winter's weather assault has exposed the poor to heaps of miseries who can ill-afford warm garments, and are obliged to spend night on the ground. "The lump comes to my throat when my children are huddled together under some clothes which are an apology for warm blankets," tells Mina Devi, a mother of three children, who washes dishes in a small dingy hotel in Kishanganj.

The adverse weather conditions have impacted the markets as well. "How can we customers and buyers sell and buy when fog does not clear up till late in the afternoon," says a kirana merchant Gopal Gami in Katihar. "The adverse weather condition force us to stay indoors, and we prefer to go back home with the dusk descending on us," tell Manoj Kumar of Saharsa.

The trains meandering through Katihar division of North-East Frontier Railways (NF Rlys) are running hours behind scheduled due to fog. Even Diburgarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express and Guwahati-New Delhi North- East Express were three and six hours behind their scheduled time on Saturday, railway officials said.

The buses, commuting between Purnia and Patna, Kishanganj and Patna, Bhagalpur and Siliguri via Purnia take almost the double time they usually took in normal weather conditions.