Saturday, January 7 2006 19:59 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The entire North India today (Jan 7, 2006) reeled under an intense cold wave with mercury plummeting by one to six degrees celsius at many places as seven more people succumbed to the winter chill pushing the death count to 120.

Icy winds swept the region as night-time temperature at Adampur in Jalandhar district of Punjab plunged to minus four degrees celsius, the lowest in 34 years.

The mercury in Adampur had dipped to minus 5.2 degrees celsius on January six, 1972.

All the seven fresh casualties occurred in Uttar Pradesh taking the death toll in the state this winter to 99.

The cold fury had so far claimed 17 lives in Punjab and four in Haryana.

People groaned under freezing conditions with minimum temperatures staying appreciably below normal at many places disrupting normal life especially in Kashmir valley.

The icy layer on top of the famous Dal Lake in Srinagar thickened further raising the possibility of its complete freezing.

The Dal Lake had frozen twice before in 1964 and 1986 when cricket was played over it.

The valley was in the grip of a piercing cold wave with night temperature dipping to two degrees below freezing point.