New Delhi, 14 December (H.S.): The National Capital Region (NCR) awoke shrouded in a dense blanket of fog and smog this morning, with the Central Pollution Control Board recording an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 491 at Anand Vihar and 484 at ITO, both plunging into the 'severe' category.

Authorities have invoked Stage IV of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) across Delhi and adjoining areas including Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurugram, and Sonipat, where AQI levels similarly veer into grave territory, prompting the Delhi government's Directorate of Education to mandate hybrid classes up to grades 9 and 11 in all schools.

As December nears its midpoint, an intensified cold wave has seized northern India alongside swathes of the country, with biting winds rattling residents in Haryana, Punjab, and Chandigarh, while snowfall, fierce chills, and thick fog sharpen winter's edge in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu-Kashmir.

Unprecedented cold wave alerts now extend to Vidarbha, northern Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, southern interior Karnataka, and Odisha, signaling a broader meteorological onslaught.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar