INDIA: Northern India shivered in a relentless cold wave yesterday in which more than 115 people, mostly street dwellers, have died of exposure over the past week.
Most of the deaths occurred in India's most populous Uttar Pradesh state, where 104 people have succumbed to the cold, 26 of them over the past 24 hours.
State officials, who have ordered the closure of all schools for the rest of the week as an emergency measure, said the death toll could climb as reports of cold-related deaths had not yet come in from remote, rural districts.
Temperatures in the state capital Lucknow dipped to 3.4° and weather officials said the cold wave would continue for several more days, accompanied by winds and rain. The overnight low in nearby Kanpur touched 1° .
Such extreme temperatures are fatal in impoverished India, where millions of people live below the poverty line forced to make do without heat, electricity or warm clothing.
Many are forced to sleep in the open and clusters of poor people across the region huddled around feeble, smoky fires which they lit with damp twigs, discarded newspapers, plastic bags and, for a lucky few, used tyres.
News reports said at least 80 people had died in neighbouring Bihar state, India's poorest. District authorities have been ordered to light bonfires at public places and have thrown open schools and government places as shelters.
But in Bihar, the most corrupt, lawless and inefficient of India's 29 states, few are likely to be able to avail of these facilities without paying bribes they do not have.
The Bihar government has also ordered the distribution of blankets to the poor and homeless, but up until yesterday the directive was awaiting clearance by the province's finance department, state relief and rehabilitation commissioner Mr Navin Verma said. All Bihar schools have been closed until Monday.
New Delhi recorded a temperature of 5°, the lowest this winter while dense fog and overcast skies severely disrupted road, rail and air traffic. Officials said at least 11 domestic flights, one international and two cargo planes were diverted and over 50 trains interminably delayed.
