Two men died overnight in Uttar Pradesh, taking the cold-related toll in the northern state to 44 since early December, the Press Trust of India quoted government officials as saying.

A homeless worker died Wednesday in Punjab, which took to seven the death toll in the state bordering Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state and one of its poorest.

Two other people have died in neighbouring Haryana state.

Lakes, springs and rivers, meanwhile, froze in Himachal Pradesh state as the mercury plummeted to minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus four degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of the mountainous region Tuesday night, the weather office said.

Several northern states have closed schools and colleges while hospitals have geared up services to treat homeless people suffering from hypothermia.

Tens of thousands of people shivered in sub-zero cold in Indian-administered Kashmir where a 7.6-strength quake in October damaged or razed some 100,000 homes.

The winter takes a heavy toll each year around South Asia as poverty forces many homeless people to sleep under the stars or in flimsy shacks.

Last year, some 400 people died from cold in Uttar Pradesh alone.

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