CHENNAI: Around 11 lakh people left Chennai for various parts of Tamil Nadu and neighbouring states ahead of the Pongal over Saturday and Sunday. A total of 97 trains departed from Chennai Central and 85 from Chennai Egmore and Tambaram, together capable of carrying about 3.65 lakh passengers per day.
Sources said that over the past two days, more than seven lakh passengers are estimated to have travelled by train from Chennai. National highways witnessed heavy traffic congestion in the last two days, with the GST Road seeing long vehicle queues stretching from Tambaram to Guduvanchery.
In an official statement, the transport department said as of January 5, a total of 5,510 buses were operated from the Kilambakkam, CMBT and MMBT bus termini over the weekend, ferrying about 2.47 lakh commuters. “As of January 11, around 2.18 lakh passengers have reserved tickets in government buses. In addition to 2,092 regular services operated daily, a total of 10,245 special buses have been planned between January 9 and 14,” the statement said.
Officials attributed the rise in ticket bookings for government buses to the recent induction of multi-axle SETC buses and new buses for the transport corporations. Omni buses, which carry about 60,000 passengers daily, increased fares by nearly 25% on several routes. However, operators maintained that the fares were within the approved tariff and that there was no significant hike. The fare for multi-axle Volvo omni buses was capped between Rs 3,600 and Rs 4,000 on several routes, operators said. A railway official said that additional special trains have been operated to Tirunelveli, Nagercoil, Tiruchy and other places.