Smog engulfs Haryana: 17 injured in Sirsa, Rohtak mishaps; trains, buses run behind schedule

Dense smog on the National Highway-9, which connects Haryana and its neighbouring Punjab with the national capital, has hit the schedule of long-distance trains and state roadways buses.

While the trains from Punjab’s Bathinda to Delhi via Sirsa and Hisar ran late by an hour, the Haryana Roadways cancelled early morning long-route buses to avoid accidents amid smog. The situation is even worse in night when visibility is so poor that traffic is seen moving at a snail’s speed.

A senior railway official said the schedule of nearly 120 trains has been affected due to smog. The state roadways has postponed the departure time Chandigarh-Delhi bus to 9.30am.

A car that rammed into a vegetable cart near Moriwala village of Sirsa district on Tuesday. (Manoj Dhaka/HT)

Ramesh Kumar, a Haryana Roadways driver on the Sirsa-Delhi Delhi route, said, “It take five hours to reach Sirsa from Delhi but on Monday night we took over nine hours on the same route. Visibility was really low between Fatehabad and Sirsa.”

Raj Singh, head of department, meteorological and agriculture department at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agriculture University (CCSHAU), said, “Smoggy conditions will continue for few more days. Sudden fall in temperature and increase in moisture creates low pressure. Therefore, the smoke emanating from stubble burning does not get cleared quickly, resulting in dense smog.”

Keeping in mind some accidents involving school buses due to poor visibility, the Sirsa administration has ordered the private schools in the district to open an hour late than usual till smog continues.

All schools will open at 9am instead of 8am and the order will remain effective for the next one week, said Sirsa deputy commissioner (DC) Prabhjot Singh who held a meeting and asked the officials to keep an eye on stubble burning incidents. The Fatehabad administration had taken a similar move on Monday.

As per data compiled by the Haryana Space Application Centre (HARSAC) Hisar, more than 800 incidents of stubble burning have been reported in Fatehabad district only.

Mishaps in Sirsa

Seven people were injured on the NH-9 near Odhan village of Sirsa district in a pile-up involving six vehicles. The incident took place when a mini-truck driver applied sudden brakes and five vehicles, including two cars, rammed into it from behind.

The injured were rushed to the Sirsa civil hospital. In another incident, a Sirsa depot bus rammed into a parked truck near Moriwala village of Sirsa. At least six passengers, driver, conductor and another driver of the Fatehabad depot received injuries in the accident. They were rushed to the civil hospital. The driver Swarn Kumar cited poor visibility as the reason behind the accident.