Weather officials forecast that temperatures in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state with 180 million people and one of its poorest, were likely to drop further.

"Four people died of cold overnight as the temperature dropped to four degrees Celsius (39.2 degree Fahrenheit) in parts of the state," police spokesman Surendra Srivastava told AFP in the state capital Lucknow.

"The dead were poor and lived under open sky," he said.

The winter takes a heavy toll each year around South Asia.

Many people are homeless due to poverty and live outdoors or in flimsy shacks designed for the equally deadly hot summers.

The night temperature in the city of Agra, home to the world famous Taj Mahal monument to love, fell to four degrees Celsius, six degrees below normal.

The temperature will drop further, said R.K. Verma, Director, Department of Meteorology.

The government of Uttar Pradesh has ordered bonfires at major street crossings where the homeless can warm up.

Most of the dead so far have been homeless, officials say.

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