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New Delhi: Heavy fog and snow in parts of the country have grounded flights and closed highways, bringing misery for thousands of travellers.
Thick fog at Delhi airport delayed 80 flights in and out of the capital.
Airport officials said almost all morning flights were badly affected and a heavy backlog would cause more delays.
Runway visibility fell below 100 metres between 5.30 and 9 am, making it impossible for flights to take off or land.
"The fog is slowly lifting but delays will be inevitable," said an airport spokesperson.
Although some flights took off using the CAT-3B system after 10am, the backlog of delayed flights was so heavy that airport authorities had difficulty rescheduling flights and catering to irate passengers.
Meanwhile, the strategic Jammu-Srinagar highway remained closed due to heavy snowfall for the third consecutive day on Wednesday, stranding thousands of passengers.
Many passengers - mostly Kashmiris - are huddled together trying to ward off the cold in a bus stand in Jammu, waiting anxiously for the re-opening of the road.
With the weather continuing to be inclement and the highway closed due to heavy snowfall and landslides, there are no hopes of immediate relief.
"Now I am stuck up here," said Gulam Rasool, in his sixties, who had come here to meet a senior politician from his home district of Kulgam.
"The politician was off to Delhi. Neither could I meet him nor do I have the money to rent a room in any hotel."
Hoteliers have raised the tariff by several times. A low-class hotel, which would normally offer a room for around Rs.300 (Dh27), now asks for Rs.1,000 (Dh93).
"This is a loot," Abdul Ahad, another stranded passenger told IANS. "But there is no one to listen to us."
No-one from the government has visited them, passengers say. "We are waiting for someone to come, but no one has visited us so far," Ahad said.
The General Bus Stand, Jammu, from where more than 400 buses should be leaving for various destinations in and out of the state, has been converted into a mass waiting hall.
Each passenger has the same question: "Did you hear anything about the opening of the road?"
Many passengers are criticising the organisations which manage the 294-km-long highway, the only operational road link the valley has with the rest of the country.
Heavy snowfall at Jawahar Tunnel, 190 km north of Jammu, and at Patnitop, has made the road unworthy for traffic.
The snowfall has also created danger of avalanches.
Passengers "will be allowed [to travel] only after the road is cleared of the boulders and snow", a police official said.
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