Twenty-nine people succumbed to the intense cold wave in North India on Tuesday as temperatures dropped to sub-zero levels at many places in the region.

Delhiites froze under chilly winds and the biting cold with the minimum temperature plunging to 3.3 degrees Celsius. Though Tuesday’s minimum was up by almost a degree from the previous day, icy winds forced many people to stay indoors during morning hours. Tuesday’s minimum was four degrees below normal level at this time of the season, said the weatherman. The maximum temperature was 15.5.

New Delhi: There was no respite from the cold wave across north India on Monday as the mercury dipped close to the freezing point at several places in the region and killed 29 more people, mounting the toll from it this season to around 200.

Officials said six people died in Ghazipur, three each in Azamgarh and Barabanki in UP. Two deaths were reported from Fatehpur, Sultanpur and Chandauli besides one each in Jaunpur and Siddhartnagar in the state that had reported the maximum cold-related deaths —175 — this season.

New Delhi: Taking suo motu cognizance of the TOI report on how common hilly and forest land in Aravalis is getting fragmented and privatized in the name of consolidation, National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday issued notices to the principal conservator of forest and the chief secretary of Haryana.

The bench headed by Justice Swatantra Kumar has listed the case for hearing on January 23. This is the first time the green tribunal has taken note of a news report on its own, considering the possible impact of diverting forest land for non-forest uses.

Top planners of the country have asserted that pricing and rationing are the most important tools to make optimal use of the most precious natural resource - water - and achieve sustainable development even though states, bound by political compulsions and fiercely protective of control over water management, may never agree to it.

Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia says pricing of water and rationing by regulation are the most effective tools to stop the gross misuse of water resources, even though they are very difficult decisions.

Farmers in the state have demanded a high-level probe into the alleged irregularities that caused lakhs of rupees to go waste due to late implementation of the Seed Village Scheme in Haryana.

The union government had come up with an ambitious scheme under which the farmers were to be provided with financial assistance for processing and distributing foundation and certified seeds at 50 per cent of the cost. Besides, they were to be trained for seed production with the latest available technology for two years after which they could take up seed production on their own.

The cold wave condition intensified with the minimum temperature plummeting sharply, throwing normal life out of gear in many places of the North. According to weather office, the lowest minimum temperature of minus 3.0 degree Celsius was recorded at Narnaul (Haryana) in the plains of the country.

With cold wave conditions raging, Delhi continued to shiver as mercury remained below normal by five notches to settle at 2.4 degree Celsius. The maximum temperature too dipped to seven degrees below normal to settle at 13.4 degree Celsius.

JAIPUR: Residents of Pink City woke up to the coldest morning of the season on Monday when the city recorded a minimum temperature of 2.3 degrees Celsius, almost 5 degrees below the normal minimum. In most places of the state, shivering cold conditions threw life out of normal gear with Churu recording minus 2.7 degrees and Mount Abu recording minus 0.5 degrees - the two most coldest places in the state.

The two places were followed by Pilani which recorded a minimum temperature of minus 1.4 degrees Celsius, Karauli 0, Sriganganagar 0.4, Vanasthali 0.8, Dausa and Rajsamand 1.5, Bharatpur 1.9, Fatehpur 2.1, Bikaner 2.6, Chittorgarh and Sawai Madhopur 2.8, Bundi 3, Udaipur 3.2, Pali 3.6, Sikar 3.8, Jaisalmer 4, Kota 6.2 and Jodhpur 6.9 degrees Celsius.

NEW DELHI: A law that was meant to reverse fragmentation of agricultural land, appears to have been rampantly abused in Haryana to allow influential private players get possession of hilly and non-

North India continued to remain in the grip of severe cold wave today, with 23 more persons succumbing to the chill in various parts of the region.

Funds-starved state electricity boards (SEBs) across the country are resorting to load shedding in a massive way to deal with power shortages rather than buy electricity from the open market, which is turning more expensive. This is reflected in peak-hour electricity deficits of states with heavily indebted power distribution utilities.

SEBs, operating under political patronage, find it easier to opt for load shedding than buy power from the open market and pass the additional cost to the consumers through tariff increases.