Flights and train services hit as fog drops Delhi visibility
MORE THAN 5,000 AIR PASSENGERS STRANDED IN LUCKNOW FOLLOWING DIVERSIONS
The national capital yesterday continued to be enveloped in dense fog, which disrupted many flights and trains. The city was hit by the season’s worst fog on Sunday. The visibility dropped to 300 metres in Delhi yesterday morning.
“My flight has been diverted to Ahmedabad, thanks to Delhi fog,” Anuja Mohan, who was on her way to Delhi from Dubai, said.
People waiting at the city’s two airports for their flights complained that the authorities were not providing information about the delays and cancellations.
“Original departure time was 6.40am. It was rescheduled to 8.45am due to fog. Even an hour later, nobody is still bothered to explain what the real problem is,” said Dinkar Krishnan, who was to travel to Chennai.
Harrowing time
According to the Northern Railway, 44 trains en route to Delhi were running behind schedule and five were rescheduled. Commuters travelling from Delhi to the satellite towns of Noida in Uttar Pradesh and Gurgaon in Haryana faced a harrowing time.
Meanwhile, at least 20 flights bound for New Delhi were di- verted to Chaudhary Charan Singh airport here late on Sunday due to dense fog in the national capital, airport officials said yesterday.
The Lucknow airport tarmac has the capacity to accommodate 24 planes at a time, and with the sudden landing of 20 flights diverted from Delhi, the airport was chock- a- block with planes. The private carriers had to bring in their ground staff to deal with the sudden rush of aircraft and flurry of passengers.
Airport officials said that more than 5,000 passengers were stranded here. With fog in Delhi as well as Lucknow showing no signs of thinning away, passengers’ waits might get prolonged. “There is almost zero visibility at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi and the situation is no different here, the flights will have to wait till the weather clears,” an official said. The diverted planes began landing at the Lucknow airport after 9pm on Sunday, officials said.