VIJAYAWADA: Pandit Nehru Bus Stand (PNBS) and railway station saw milling crowds on Sunday as thousands of people heading home to celebrate Dasara poured in to board buses and trains. The long weekend accompanied by Dasara and Muharram holidays are enticing Vijayawadities to pack their bags.
The number of special buses operated by APSRTC from PNBS is 200 and that of trains between major destinations is 20, but it just doesn’t seem enough. Unfortunately, there are no seats or berths available in most of the trains and buses that run from Vijayawada.The buses going to Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool witnessed huge crowds.
“More than 200 buses are being operated from PNBS to various longer destinations like Bangalore and Chennai. The crowd is expected to further swell on Wednesday,” said RTC Krishna Regional Manager PV Rama Rao. Considering the passenger rush, RTC will operate extra buses to Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts. There is an increase in the influx from Hyderabad. People come to Vijayawada and from here, they head to different destinations, he said.
Meanwhile, South Central Railway (SCR) has been operating 10 special trains between Secunderabad to Kakinada to meet the festival rush. Ten special trains between Hyderabad-Visakhapatnam. But the ground reality is quite different. People are facing a lot of problems with lack of adequate transport facilities. Serpentine queues were also seen at the ticket counters in the railway station.
The trains running to all major cities including Chennai, Bangalore, Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad were full. The unreserved compartments in all the trains were jam-packed. People occupied every inch of the space available. Many were seen trying to board the already crowded unreserved compartments. This is the case every year during the festive season. Passengers, especially women and the elderly are put to lot of inconvenience.