Fog disrupts flights, rail and road traffic in Delhi

Dense fog engulfed the national capital and surrounding areas for the second day today, disrupting flights from Delhi airport and affecting rail and road traffic.

Operations at the Delhi airport were temporarily suspended due to dense fog which brought visibility to below 50 metres. Trains were running late and road traffic moved at snail's pace, creating traffic blocks.

Flight operations at the Indira Gandhi International Airport were affected for the second day with five flights diverted to other airports amid low runway visibility. The flights could not land at the airport due to low visibility

While flight operations at Delhi airport were not suspended, operations were ''intermittent,'' airport sources said, adding that the. ATC is clearing arrivals and departures as per the fog situation.

In fact, flights across north India were impacted, affecting air services from Srinagar, Gorakhpur, Guwahati , Varanasi and Amritsar, SpiceJet said in multiple tweets.

''Due to the sudden drop in visibility because of fog in Delhi, our flights may be impacted leading to consequential delays,'' Vistara said in a tweet.

IndiGo said due to poor visibility ''because of fog at Delhi, we're expecting delays on all arrivals and departures from Delhi airport''.

Delhi airport said five flights have been diverted to other airports since morning. Airport authorities expect the foggy conditions to continue for the next several days.

As per the forecast by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), ''Shallow to moderate fog is very likely at isolated pockets over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, western Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, northern parts of West Bengal and moderate to dense fog at isolated places over eastern Uttar Pradesh, southern Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura during 2­-3 days.''

The situation is expected to continue for the next two days as Friday and Saturday will see moderate fog. On Sunday, fog is expected to be shallow, but the minimum temperature is expected to reach 9 degrees Celsius.

Dense fog also aggravates the pollution problem in the national capital region which has already reached very serious proportions.

As per the air quality monitoring data of the Central Pollution Control Board, places like Anand Vihar and Punjabi Bagh witnessed severe levels of pollution on Thursday morning.

''Severe'' level of pollution is the air quality level when even healthy people get affected with respiratory problems and those with existing diseases are seriously impacted.