New Year cold snap kills 23 in Northern India

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Reuters

Posted online: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 at 12:00:00
Updated: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 at 03:34:51

Lucknow, January 2: A spell of cold weather has killed at least 23 people in Northern India in the last few days, most of them homeless, government officials said, as temperatures dip close to freezing point.

In Uttar Pradesh, 12 people have died from the cold in the last two days, while eleven people have died in the last four days in neighbouring Bihar, officials from the states' disaster relief offices said.

Villagers in drafty huts, city slum dwellers and the homeless are the hardest hit in winter in northern India states as icy winds come sweeping down from the Himalayas.

In the capital and across the region, many thousands of people can be seen huddling around roadside bonfires come nightfall, and Uttar Pradesh government is ordering that more be lit until the cold weather passes.

In parts of Uttar Pradesh, the temperature has dropped as low as 1.8 Celsius (35 Fahrenheit).

The temperature is expected to drop by another 1 or 2 degrees Celsius over the coming days, said K P Kulshreshtha, Director of the Uttar Pradesh meteorological office.

Local authorities run night shelters and charities hand out blankets during the winter season, but these measures usually fall far short of demand.

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