Bhubaneswar: The people of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack and districts like Puri, Jagatsinghpur in Odisha woke up to a thick blanket of fog enveloping the areas Thursday morning as the cold wave continued across the state.
Fog also prevailed in other parts of the state disrupting road, rail and air traffic.
Official sources said that the fog reduced the visibility to 50 metres and continued from midnight to 8:30 am and 9 am.
Regional Meteorological Centre, the visibility plummeted to 50 metre in Paradip badly affecting road traffic in the port town. Puri and Cuttack recorded moderate fog with the visibility dropping to 200 metre and 300 metre, respectively. Besides, Bhubaneswar and Chandbali witnessed light fog with visibility of 600 metre and 700 metre, respectively.
The foggy condition prevailed till 10 AM at many places, including the Twin City disrupting vehicular movements.
On the other hand, the train services also disrupted following the dense fog. East Coast Railway (ECoR) has geared up its manpower and has taken precautions to cope with the dense fog during night and early morning in various sections under its jurisdiction.
On the other hand, loco pilots have been instructed to drive the train carefully depending upon visibility conditions for the safety of passengers. Train running staff are being counselled by railway officers and safety counsellors to cope with the situation.
ECoR opens an official statement in this regard. The statement said, “In areas prone to dense fog, luminous and fluorescent strips have been painted at OHE (Overhead Equipment) masts, level crossings and in busy traffic areas before ‘Stop’ signals. This will be of great help to loco pilots who can spot the luminous strips even in fog and get extra careful while approaching the signal.”
PNN