All schools closed for week due to extreme winter weather in Guwahati
Guwahati (PTI): With mercury dipping 6.4 degrees Celsius below normal in daytime in the state capital, all schools in Kamrup Metropolitan district of Assam have been closed for a week due to harsh winter, according to an official order.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted light rain at isolated places over Assam with shallow to moderate fog till Thursday morning.
"In view of the ongoing extreme cold wave, the Kamrup (Metropolitan) district administration has directed all government & provincialised schools to remain closed from December 31, 2025 to January 6, 2026," the Chief Minister's Office said in a post on Tuesday night.
Provincialised schools are private institutions taken over by the government.
The normal classes will resume from January 7, prioritising the safety and well-being of students, it added.
The Inspector of Schools (IS) of Kamrup Metropolitan district, which primarily comprises the capital city, issued an advisory asking the schools to close for one week, considering the health and safety of students.
"All heads of schools are hereby advised to inform students, parents and staff accordingly. Ensure that no academic or co-curricular activities are conducted during this period. Take necessary steps for the smooth resumption of classes after the reopening," it added.
The IS also advised the private schools to decide for themselves in the interest of students.
According to the MET Department, the state capital recorded a maximum temperature of 18.1 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, which was 6.4 degrees below the normal. The minimum temperature was, however, 4.3 degrees above normal at 15.1 degree Celsius.
It predicted cloudy skies with light rain or drizzle in the state capital, with maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be 19 degrees Celsius and 14 degrees Celsius, respectively.
"An upper air cyclonic circulation lies over Northeast Assam at 1.5 km above mean sea level. The upper air cyclonic circulation over north Bangladesh at 1.5 km above mean sea level has become less marked," the daily weather report on Northeast said on Tuesday.
In the last 2-3 days, the weather remained cloudy with many parts of the state, including Guwahati city, witnessing drizzles during the daytime.
People are seen warming up with woodfires on roadsides throughout the day, while demands for heavy woolens soared in the market.
Though the extreme winter has made life difficult, especially for the poor people, many have welcomed it, saying a perfect mood has been created for the new year celebrations.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
