Met officials said rain or thundershowers could take place in parts of Punjab and Haryana over the next 24 hours.
Chandigarh/Simla, January 14, 2020 (IANS): Cold wave conditions intensified on Tuesday with widespread rain in most parts of North India like Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh and the showers were likely to continue, Met officials said at Chandigarh. On the other, thousands of devotees took dip on rivers on Makar Sankranti this morning.
Dense fog conditions will return after the rain, the Met added.
Punjab on Makar Sankranti:
The holy city Amritsar in Punjab saw the highest rain in both the states at 27.6 mm. It recorded a low of 3.7 degrees Celsius, a sharp fall from Monday’s 10.2 degrees.
Industrial hub Ludhiana had a low of 5.8 degrees Celsius with a rainfall of 12.8 mm. Faridkot and Patiala cities in Punjab recorded lows of 4.4 and 6.9 degrees.
Met officials said rain or thundershowers could take place in parts of Punjab and Haryana over the next 24 hours.
In Haryana, Hisar and Narnaul town had a low of 3.5 degrees each, while it was 7.6 degrees in Ambala, 8 degrees in Karnal and 4.4 degrees in Sirsa. Ambala had 9.2 mm of rain. Chandigarh, which saw 10.9 mm of rain, had a low of 8.6 degrees, a fall from 11.3 degrees a day earlier.
On the other side, thousands of devotees across Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday took holy dips in rivers, braving winter chill, to mark Makar Sankranti, a Hindu festival dedicated to the deity Surya.
Makar Sankranti and hot water springs
Since early morning the devotees were seen congregating at Tattapani, 55 km from the state capital, and Manikaran, home to a Sikh shrine in Kullu district, for holy dips in the Satluj and Parvati rivers respectively, officials said.
Tattapani and Manikaran are known for hot water springs with high sulphur concentration.
The natural and prominent hot springs, which disappeared after the construction of the 800 MW Koldam hydroelectric power project executed by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) along the Satluj in Tattapani, have been restored. Its reservoir had submerged the hot springs.
The devotees also visited Vashist temple, located on the outskirts of the popular tourist resort Manali.
The temple is situated on the left bank of Beas river, also known for its hot springs.
“This time the rush of the devotees is less compared to the previous year owing to inclement weather,” Shimla resident Mohit Sood told IANS over phone from Tattapani.
Normally, Tattapani sees more than 25,000 devotees offering prayers during a holy bath on Makar Sankranti at natural hot water springs there.
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