New Delhi, Mumbai:
Fog is back to haunt travellers in various parts of the country. Thick fog in Delhi has led to poor runway visibility which has disrupted flights to and from several cities including Mumbai, Kolkata, Jaipur and Amritsar.
There were no flights at Delhi airport for nearly an hour early on Sunday morning. Situation right now is better, visibility has improved and flights have started taking off, but some 38 flights were cancelled and 42 delayed or diverted. Some international flights have also been disrupted. (
Read: Jet Airways/JetLite on fog delays |
IGI update at 12 pm)
Civil Aviation Secretary Nasim Ahmad Zaidi spoke to the media after a fog review meeting, and said while some delays were inevitable, there had to be a way to keep passengers in the loop.
"The IGI has a helpline, airlines also have helplines. If undue inconvenience is there, complaints will be looked into, but during fog, perhaps some inconvenience is unavoidable," he said.
Most of the morning flights were delayed by up to five hours or had to be rescheduled for the latter part of the day. The general visibility at the main and the new runways were less than 50 metres early morning.
Last night, Air India rescheduled its flights to New York, Chicago and Toronto after visibility dropped below the accepted limit. The flights, which were scheduled to depart between 1.30 to 3.30 am, were rescheduled to 11.30 am.
At Mumbai airport, it was an ordeal for stranded passengers many of whom are still waiting for their flight. (
Watch: MMS of angry passengers at Mumbai airport)
The Mumbai airport witnessed chaos last night as delays and cancellations affected 2,000 passengers. The long delays and the confusion angered passengers who even raised slogans against the airport authorities.
Paramilitary forces had to be called in to prevent the situation from spiralling out of control.
"They are refusing to cooperate, we are stuck here unnecessarily, even the railway agitations are on we were asked to board down from the flight after getting the boarding pass, all of us are women and we have been waiting here all night," said a woman passenger.
The Delhi fog disrupted flight schedules even in Kolkata.
One of the stranded passengers at Kolkata airport Anup Narang spoke to NDTV about his ordeal. He said, "Kolkata to Delhi Indigo flight (6E 274) was to take off at 7:40 pm last night but took off at 10:40 pm. But it came back from half way to Kolkata at 12:45 am because of poor visibility at Delhi airport. Around 200 passengers (including women and children) were promised hotel accommodation till the next flight but nothing was provided. All passengers are still at airport."
Dense fog in the Capital also brought road traffic to a slow crawl. To add to the commuters' nightmare, streetlights were not working on many roads. Also some commuters complained that hardly any police vans were visible.
Trains in Delhi have also been affected by fog. Twenty trains have been rescheduled, 41 trains more than 3 hours late. Kota Jan Shatabdi, Ajmer Shatabdi cancelled. Eight trains have been partially cancelled (
Licchvi Express, Lal Qila Express, Unchar Express, Kalindi Express, Mandor Express, Toofan Express, Mewar Express and
Janta Express)
According to the meteorological department, the fog is likely to continue for a few more days. (With PTI inputs)