"Northern India has turned into an icebox," said Rajendra Goyal of Delhi's state-run metro train services as the city police mounted a vigil on the capital's streets for people without shelter.

"We are removing anyone we find from the streets into shelters which have been set up because the conditions outside are just terrible," a police department spokesman told AFP.

The capital city of 14 million people on Sunday recorded temperatures of 0.2 degrees Celsius (32.36 Fahrenheit), the lowest in 70 years.

Elsewhere in northern India, the mercury fluctuated between minus four degrees Celsius and two degrees Celsius.

The Press Trust of India news agency said the number of deaths nationwide linked to the cold rose to 154 Monday with eight more deaths overnight in Uttar Pradesh, raising the weather-related toll in India's most populous state since early December to 118.

Two more people died of cold in West Bengal.

More than 300 million people in India's eight northern states, meanwhile, shivered in the unusual weather as the meteorological office predicted the cold snap was likely to ease within the next 48 hours.

"More than half of India is freezing," the privately-run NDTV television station said as icy winds blew down from the Himalayas across frigid Kashmir to India's Gangetic plains.

Bonfires lit up across northern India as the homeless prepared for another night in the open.

Indian farmers, meanwhile, said the ground frost could stunt winter crops but New Delhi allayed their fears, saying the paddy crops were likely to withstand the unusual chill.

Parts of Indian Kashmir, experiencing heavy snowfall for many days, have been without power for almost a week after the main transmission line snapped in heavy snow.

The low temperatures have caused Indian Kashmir's famous Dal lake to freeze -- presenting a delightful picture for the many winter tourists visiting the region.

In neighbouring southern Nepal at least 14 people were killed by a wave of cold weather over the past four days, state radio said Monday.

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