Bhubaneswar, Jan 4 (PTI) The Odisha government on Thursday asked district authorities to take necessary steps to avoid road accidents as the India Meteorological Department forecast dense fog for the next three days across the state.
Special Relief Commissioner Satyabrata Sahu, in a letter to all the district collectors and SPs, said that police and transport officials of respective districts may take necessary steps for "controlled plying of vehicles on highways during the dense fog to avoid any road accident".
According to the Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar, very dense fog engulfed Rourkela this morning, restricting visibility to 50 metres. Phulbani, Koraput, Sonepur, Cuttack and Nayagarh also witnessed dense fog.
Shallow and moderate fog was seen in Bhawanipatna and Keonjhar also, the weather office said.
The Met Office has issued yellow alerts for dense fog for 3 more days.
According to IMD, dense fog may occur in Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Sonepur, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Rayagada, Nawarangpur, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nayagarh, Khurda, Cuttack and Dhenkanal up to 8.30 AM of Friday. Such a weather condition is likely to prevail on Saturday and Sunday across districts.
Meanwhile, the mercury level plummeted to 11 degrees Celsius and below at nine places in Odisha with Koraput being the coldest at 7.8 degrees Celsius on Thursday, the Met Office said.
Daringbadi, G Udayagiri and Phulbani, all in Kandhamal district, recorded 8.5, 9.4 and 10 degrees Celsius respectively, followed by Keonjhar at 10.3 degrees Celsius, Ranital in Bhadrak at 10.6 degrees Celsius.
The twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar recorded 14.5 degrees C and 16 degrees C respectively.
The IMD also forecast light rain at some places on Friday and Saturday.