Bhuwan Thapa, a senior officer at Bharatpur Airport, said that flights have been suspended since Saturday due to the weather not being clear for flights.
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Chitwan has been extremely cold for the past three days. The cold has increased significantly since the cold wave began to move in from Sunday. The average minimum temperature in Chitwan for the past three days has been 12 degrees Celsius.
According to Bharatpur Airport, the minimum temperature on Saturday was 10 degrees Celsius, while on Sunday it was 13 degrees and today (Monday) the minimum temperature was 12 degrees Celsius. The temperature till 3 pm on Monday was 14 degrees.
The cold has also affected the normal life of Chitwan. Locals have started sitting by making fires near their houses. Sita Pariyar of Bharatpur-10, who was sitting by making fires in Ramala Chowk, said that her work has been affected due to the cold. ‘I do my own sewing work, I didn’t work today because I felt very cold, I am sitting by making fires,’ she said.
The crowd in the market is also less due to the cold. Suryabhakta Adhikari, who has been doing business in Narayanghat for a long time, said that fewer customers have come due to the cold. ‘There has been less activity in the market for the past few days, there is no business due to the cold,’ he said.
Bharatpur Airport closed for three days
Bharatpur Airport has been closed for three days as the cold weather has increased. Bhuwan Thapa, a senior officer at Bharatpur Airport, said that flights have been suspended since Saturday as the weather has not been clear for flights. ‘The visibility required for flights has not been reached for three consecutive days, now the airport is closed,’ he said.
Visibility at Bharatpur Airport on Monday was only 1,100 meters. The height of the clouds is above 1,500 feet. The minimum visibility required for flights is 5,000 meters. The height of the clouds should be above 1,500 feet. Thapa said that flights were affected because the visibility did not reach the standard on Monday. ‘Both the visibility and cloud height standards must be met for air flights, a plane cannot be flown if only one is reached,’ said senior officer Thapa, ‘Both the standards were not met for two days, even though the cloud height was reached on Monday, the flight could not take place due to the lack of visibility.’
Buddha Air currently operates 7 daily flights from Bharatpur Airport. ATR 72 and 42 aircraft are flying to Kathmandu and Pokhara. Buddha Air Bharatpur Station Manager Bhakta Bahadur Basnet said that since the flight could not take off, the ticket amount of the passengers has been refunded. ‘Since the flight could not take off for three consecutive days, we are refunding the ticket amount of some, while some have postponed their tickets for later dates,’ said Basnet. 
More than 500 passengers travel between Chitwan and Kathmandu via Bharatpur Airport daily. The airport has become deserted due to the suspension of flights. Passengers traveling by plane will have to pay a ticket of Rs 4,615 to go from Chitwan to Kathmandu, while the ticket fee from Kathmandu to Chitwan is Rs 4,715.
Schools within Bharatpur Metropolitan City closed for one day
Bharatpur Metropolitan City has announced that schools will be closed for one day due to the extreme cold. The Educational Administration Division of the metropolis issued a notice on Monday announcing that schools will be closed for one day on Poush 16.
The metropolis has decided to grant an additional day off on Tuesday, which is automatically a holiday on the occasion of Tamu Losar. Subash Chandra Acharya, Head of the Educational Division, informed that the decision to close schools for one day was made due to the extreme cold that has been affecting public life for the past few days and that children are having problems in school transportation and studying.
