Residents of Ranchi experienced a severe disruption to their Saturday morning as the season's first dense fog blanket engulfed the city. The thick layer, which persisted until around 9 am, drastically reduced visibility and brought a biting cold, forcing people to stay indoors and shiver.
Visibility Plummets, Commuting Chaos Ensues
The fog cover led to a dramatic plunge in visibility across Jharkhand. Ranchi recorded a dangerously low visibility of just 50 metres, the poorest in the state for the day. Other major towns were also affected, with Daltonganj at 150 metres, Deoghar at 300 metres, and Jamshedpur at 700 metres. This made commuting extremely difficult for office-goers, school, and college students navigating the opaque conditions.
Arvind Kumar, a private sector employee, shared his ordeal. "I could not dare to take out my car until 9 am. The fog was so dense that nothing was visible on the road," he said. He waited until 9:30 am before rushing to his office, adding apprehensively that this was just the first of many such foggy days expected this season.
Travel Gridlock: Flights Cancelled, Trains Delayed
The low visibility had a cascading effect on transportation networks. Air and rail operations were severely hampered. Authorities at Birsa Munda Airport confirmed the cancellation of 14 flights by Saturday afternoon.
The affected flights included multiple IndiGo services on routes connecting Ranchi to Kolkata, Delhi, and Ahmedabad, such as 6E 7561/7562 and 6E 6287/576. Air India Express flights IX 1046/1047 (Delhi-Ranchi-Delhi) and IX 1239/1248 (Bengaluru-Ranchi-Bengaluru) were also cancelled.
Rail travel was no better. Ranchi railway station manager S K Singh informed that the Jammu Tawi-Kolkata Express, scheduled for a 9 am arrival, reached around 2 pm. The Ranchi-Howrah Shatabdi Express was delayed by 1 hour and 10 minutes, departing at 2:55 pm instead of 1:45 pm. Several other trains from the Delhi direction arrived late. A stranded passenger, Sanjeev Kumar, bound for Kolkata, acknowledged the seasonal inconvenience but expressed frustration at the wait.
Temperature Drop and Fog Alert for Sunday
Accompanying the fog was a significant drop in maximum temperatures across the state. While Ranchi recorded 22.2°C (a drop of 1.2°C), Jamshedpur witnessed 21.6°C (4.8°C below normal) and Daltonganj saw 21.2°C (4.7°C below normal).
Anticipating continued disruption, the Ranchi meteorological office has issued an orange alert for very dense fog in six districts for Sunday, predicting visibility to remain below 50 metres. A yellow alert has also been issued for ten other districts, warning residents and travellers to prepare for another day of challenging conditions.
