HYDERABAD: The Pantangi toll plaza near Choutuppal in Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri district was gridlocked after Dasara holidays this year too. People who had travelled to their native places in Andhra Pradesh for the festival had to wait for hours to wriggle through the plaza's passages to reach Hyderabad by Sunday night. The vehicles piled up on the Vijayawada-side in thousands.
According to a local traffic police official, the rush was higher after 4 pm. "The traffic problem compounded as all the travellers tried to return to Hyderabad at the same time. The snarls had eased somewhat by night. We have deployed 20 personnel to clear the rush," said M Vijay Mohan, a traffic inspector at Choutuppal.
He added that the number of vehicles at the toll plaza could have been as high as 70,000 to 1 lakh. "Given the COVID-19 fear, most people chose to travel by their own vehicles. This could be one of the reasons why the traffic was unusually high. Had fast tag not been there, the situation could have been much worse," he said.
The local authorities also made arrangements to attend to emergencies. “We have deployed cranes and ambulances, just in case. They will be on standby for the next 24 hours,” he said. There were similar reports of thousands of vehicles trying to enter Warangal city from the Gudur toll plaza.
Gridlocked
Traffic jams were witnessed on the Rajiv Rahadari from Karimnagar to Hyderabad as well. Hundreds of vehicles had lined up at the Renikunta and Duddeda toll plazas