Freezing weather kills 22 in India

NEAR-freezing temperatures have killed more than two dozen people in northern India in recent days despite government efforts to distribute blankets and medicines to the poor.

In Uttar Pradesh, the worst-hit state, at least 22 people - many of them homeless - died over the past three days, pushing the death toll from two weeks of seasonal cold weather to 63, a government official revealed yesterday.

Uttar Pradesh is one of India's poorest states and nearly a fifth of its 180 million people are homeless, according to government statistics.

At least six people died from the cold in the past two days in neighbouring Jharkhand state, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

The temperature dipped below 3C (37F) in parts of Uttar Pradesh this week, and plunged to 0.6C (33F) in the Taj Mahal city of Agra.

State authorities have ordered all schools to close until the weather improves, the official said.

Welfare department workers gave out blankets and medicines to the poor and homeless in Uttar Pradesh this week.

In the state capital, Lucknow, the government arranged all-night bonfires at major road crossings and near railway stations.

All flights to and from Lucknow were cancelled after dense fog shrouded the city's airport yesterday. Almost all long-distance trains were running four to five hours late due to the fog, the official said.

In New Delhi, at least ten homeless people have died from cold weather over the past two weeks despite a drive by police and welfare officials to persuade people living on the streets to sleep in 80 city-run shelters.

Though India is famous for its very hot summers, temperatures fall sharply for a few weeks in December and January. Poor people, particularly those living on the streets, are the worst hit.