Mid-Day

People across India continue to face the wrath of dipping mercury, as the cold wave further intensified in several parts of the country.

In Uttar Pradesh, the minimum temperature fell down below freezing point at several places during the past 24 hours. The death toll due to the cold has mounted to over 200 as 31 more people have succumbed to it in different parts of the state.

Meanwhile, Delhi continues to shiver at three degree Celsius as there seems no respite from the cold wave.

There has been heavy snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

The mercury dipped to minus 5.5 degrees in Srinagar and minus 16 degrees in Gulmarg.

In Punjab, there has been snowfall as far as Pathankot, which is seeing snowfall after 40 years.

In Bihar, Gaya district is the coldest place in the state with the minimum temperature recorded at 2.9 degree Celsius.

The biting cold and icy winds have aggravated the agony of several homeless people, who are living on the streets and warming themselves by sitting around bonfires.