Meteorological department alert on smog in 15 districts in Punjab

Chandigarh: The lowest visibility of only 50 to 100 meters was recorded in Patiala on Friday. It was 200 meters in Amritsar and 700 meters in Ludhiana. On Friday, the minimum temperature of Punjab recorded a drop of 0.2 degrees. The lowest temperature of 4.2 degrees was recorded in Bathinda.

Smog has become deadly in Punjab. Due to dense fog on Friday morning, two people, including a woman police constable riding a scooter, died in a road accident near village Mahimadpur Jattan on Ghannore Road. Four people were injured in another accident near Dharadi Jattan toll plaza on Patiala-Rajpura highway. Meanwhile, the Meteorological Department has issued a yellow alert for 15 districts of Punjab. Dense fog will prevail in these districts till December 19. Smog has also affected railway services. Trains running on Delhi, Amritsar and Jammu railway routes have been affected on Friday. Long distance trains are running late by several hours.

After the accident near Mahimadpur Jattan, the accused tractor driver fled from the spot. The deceased include woman constable posted in Chandigarh, Ramanpreet Kaur (27), resident of village Raipur Mandla and Nisha Sharma (30) of the same village. According to investigating officer Mandeep Singh, Ramanpreet Kaur was admitted in 2019. Every day her father used to take her to the bus but on Friday Ramanpreet went on the scooter.

On the way, Nisha Sharma from the same village was also made to sit behind. Nisha also used to work in Chandigarh. At around 7:15 in the morning, near Mahimadpur Jattan, a tractor hit the scooter from behind due to lack of visibility in the fog. Ramanpreet Kaur died on the spot, while Nisha died during treatment. At the same time, near Dharedi Jattan Toll Plaza at around 8 am on Friday, due to dense fog, a truck hit three cars going ahead. Four people were injured in the accident. Two policemen were also traveling in a car. The accused driver fled leaving the truck. A truck full of cotton was coming from Rajasthan.