VIJAYAWADA: Traffic came to a standstill at toll plazas on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada national highway due to the heavy vehicle rush as people residing or working in Hyderabad proceeded to their native places in Andhra Pradesh to celebrate the Sankranti festival with their families and loved ones.
With both Telugu States declaring Sankranti holidays coupled with a long weekend, people residing in Hyderabad have been opting for private vehicles, buses or trains to reach their hometowns in whichever mode of transportation is available and affordable.
Since Friday night, several toll plazas on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada NH, starting from Pantangi in Nalgonda district of Telangana to others in Andhra Pradesh, have been choked with hundreds of cars, buses, minivans and other vehicles.
The sudden surge in vehicle movement has led to traffic snarls at Pantangi toll plaza, Chillakallu toll plaza and Keesara on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway, where the vehicle queue can be seen for a km. Despite the Fast Tag facility, the movement of a huge number of vehicles has resulted in a lag in scanning the vehicles, alleviating the traffic jam at Chillakallu toll plaza.
The toll plaza officials opened additional gates for the convenience of the commuters and to ease the vehicle flow. Meanwhile, buses and trains were overcrowded with people, who were in a hurry to reach their natives and celebrate the harvest festival on January 14.
Anticipating the vehicle rush in Vijayawada, NTR District Commissioner of Police (CP) Kanthi Rana Tata instructed the traffic officials to divert the vehicles bound to Visakhapatnam through Inner Ring Road via the CVR flyover. The CP inspected the measures taken by the traffic wing at Gollapudi and instructed some minor changes in order to avoid the cascading effect of traffic congestion in the city.