Groom, family walk 28 km for wedding due to drivers' strike in Odisha
Bhubaneswar, Mar 17: A groom and his family members had to walk 28 kilometres to reach the bride's village in Odisha's Rayagada district for the wedding, as they could not arrange a vehicle due to the drivers' strike.
They walked all night on Thursday from Sunakhandi panchayat under Kalyansinghpur block to reach Dibalapadu village where they tied the knot on Friday.
A video showing the groom and his family members including a few women walking at night went viral on social media.
"No transport was available due to the drivers' strike. We walked all night to reach the village. We had no other option," one of the groom's family members said.
The marriage was solemnised on Friday morning. But the groom and his family members stayed at the bride's house, waiting for the drivers' association to withdraw the strike so that they can return home.
The Driver Ekta Mahasangh has launched the indefinite strike across the state from Wednesday demanding social welfare measures like insurance, pension, formation of a welfare board and others.
The strike by the drivers of commercial vehicles in Odisha was on Friday put on hold for 90 days following an assurance by the state government that all their demands would be fulfilled.
The announcement by the Drivers' Ekta Mahasangh came barely a few hours after Chief Secretary P K Jena and DGP S K Bansak appealed to the striking drivers to withdraw the stir.
The strike by over two lakh drivers has hit the normal life for which people including office goers and tourists remained standard at different places. This has also resulted in price rise of essential commodities.
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Mercury plunges in Kashmir after brief respite, Shopian freezes at minus 6.4 deg C
Srinagar (PTI): Night temperatures in Kashmir dropped several degrees below the freezing point, even as a thick layer of fog engulfed parts of the valley, with Srinagar recording a low of minus 4.1 degrees Celsius, officials said on Saturday.
Shopian was the coldest recorded place in Jammu and Kashmir as the mercury there settled at a low of minus 6.4 degrees Celsius, they said.
The mercury had on Thursday night settled above the freezing point at most places in the valley, providing huge relief to the residents from the biting cold conditions.
However, temperatures dropped across Kashmir on Friday night, bringing back the freezing cold, the officials said.
On the Friday night, the minimum temperature in Srinagar -- the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir -- settled at minus 4.1 degrees Celsius, a sharp drop from 0.4 degrees Celsius the previous night, the officials said.
The gateway town to the valley, Qazigund, recorded a low of minus 4.2 degrees Celsius, while the mercury settled at minus 3.5 degrees Celsius in north Kashmir's Kupwara, and minus 0.2 degrees Celsius in south Kashmir's Kokernag, the officials said.
Pahalgam recorded a low of minus 4.4 degrees Celsius, while Gulmarg lodged minus 2.6 degrees Celsius and Konibal town in Pulwama district recorded minus 5.2 degrees Celsius, they said.
The meteorological department said the weather would remain generally cloudy but dry on December 6-7, and a brief spell of light snowfall at isolated places in the higher reaches of north and central Kashmir is likely on December 8.
