Fog covers part of Delhi, flight ops unaffected at IGI

Flight operations were largely unaffected at the Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi which witnessed shallow fog on Tuesday morning. Though some flights were delayed, it was due to poor weather conditions at the destinations. Most of the flights departing were largely on schedule, an airport official said.

Flights mostly to cities like Lucknow, Port Blair, Kolkata, Patna, Chandigarh were delayed due to poor weather conditions there.

Though the Met Department had predicted dense fog and issued a warning, the airport largely remained free from fog with runway visibility above 2,000 metres on the main runway through the night.

But the visibility started to dip around 8.30am.

The visibility at the new runway (29/11) and second runway (27/09) was low, forcing authorities to implement low visibility procedures.

According to Met Department, this is a temporary relief as western Disturbance (WD) is passing through the region due to which city experiences easterly winds during the day and Westerly during the nights.

"The situation would become clear by December 23 or 24 when WD would pass away. We have been issuing fog warning as fog had enveloped whole of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh since December 6," a Met Official said.

On Monday, more than 50 flights were delayed as dense fog blanketed the airport causing inconvenience to passengers.

Meanwhile, poor visibility also led to a 10-car pile-up on the Greater Noida Expressway at around 4.30am on Tuesday morning.

The collisions took place due to a container truck that broke down in the middle of the road.

Around 200 trains were affected on Monday due to dense fog. The situation is expected to worsen for rest of the 2011 and first 15 days of January 2012.

Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia wins Delhi Half Marathon

Shahrukh, Bipasha flag off Delhi Half MarathonWith families on their minds, Ethiopia’s Lelisa Desisa and Kenya’s Lucy Kabuu raced to victory in the men’s and women’s sections respectively in the Delhi half-marathon on Sunday. Desisa’s big family, in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, are largely dependant on him for financial assistance.

The runner is generous enough to give a substantial amount of his earnings from the lucrative road-race circuit in Europe and America, to his elders so that they live a comfortable life.

His generosity, however, is limited to his life off the track. While running, he shows no mercy. This was evident when he didn’t give an inch to Kenyan rival Geoffrey Kipsang in the final 200m of the 21km race - Desisa sprinted to victory to earn a big pay cheque. Kipsang lost a close tactical battle to Desisa, but his counterpart Lucy was smart enough to keep at bay the Ethiopian challenge of Aselefench Mergia and Belaynesh Oljira, both known for their strong ‘kick’.

At the 17km mark, Lucy, who was in a group which also included one other Kenyan and two Ethiopians, began her long drive home. It sapped the energy of the Ethiopians who trailed home behind her.

Jubilant after the win, she said: “This win is for my daughter.”

Winner in the Indian category, Suresh Kumar, says the win will help him prepare for achieving the qualification mark for next year’s London Olympics.

The top Indian female runner, Lalita Babbar, is also nursing Olympic aspirations.