Twenty-three of the 50 are camped at the domestic terminal for two days, while the others have been shuttling between Haji Hotel in Nizammudin and IGI airport for three days now.

“We have not eaten anything for the last 30 hours,” Mir Ghulam Ahmed told Newsline. “It is so expensive — even a one-litre bottle of water costs Rs 30. We are poor farmers and had left with limited money; flight officials should at least feed us.”

Ahmed, along with his family and others of his village in Anantnag district, have camped inside the domestic terminal. They had brought ticket for Jetlite flight to Srinagar on Tuesday. But the flight was cancelled after security check, and even boarding. The routine followed today. Although passengers are not allowed to sleep inside the terminal, Ahmed and his friends have managed to. “We have nowhere to go but to curl up on the airport floor,” his wife Begum Hajra said. “Thankfully, they (airport officials) accepted out request.”

Without an immediate refund, the group remained undecided about the next course of action till late Wednesday evening.

The second group, who had booked tickets with Spicejet on Monday, meanwhile come from the guesthouse in Nizammuddin every day. Ghulam Ali, a retired education officer from Badgam district, had left for a Haj trip and a subsequent pilgrimage to Iraq, Syria and Iran. “On Monday, we were inside the plane for 15 minutes; yesterday we remained inside for 30 minutes. And we managed to board the plane even today,” Ali said. “The only problem is, the plane did not take off.”

For three days now Ali’s group of 27 reach IGI at 4 am for their 7.55-am flight. “Every day they inform us about flight cancellation only at 9 am,” he said. “And then it’s another two hours to get our luggage back — it is a grilling seven-hour each day.” Tired of their efforts, Ali and his group have now decided to try their luck on Friday.

Airlines officials, meanwhile, blame it all on the weather. “With six inches of snow on Srinagar runway, there is no hope for any immediate flight,” a Jetlite official said.

Fog trips power supply in city, region
Dense fog in the region affected power supply in Delhi and neighbouring states on Wednesday morning. Power department officials said there were "lots of disturbances", made worse by tripping in Northern Grid last night and early this morning due to fog. A Delhi Transco official said, "400 KV double circuit lines (Ballabhgarh-Bawana, Bawana-Bamnauli and Manadola-Bawana) tripped around 2 am; 27 other 400 KV circuits in the Northern Region and HVDC Circuit between Rehand and Dadri also tripped.” The city saw heavy power cuts from 3.45 am to 11 am, discom officials said.
Peak demand: 2900 MW
Total shortfall: 700 MW

AWRY
Go Air: 1 cancellation, 1 diversion
Indian Airlines: 1 cancellation
Spice jet: 1 cancellation, 2 diversion
Kingfisher: 2 cancellations, 3 diversion Air Deccan: 12 cancellations

Jetlite: 6 cancellations
Jet Airways: 4 cancellations, 5 diversions