MULUGU / HYDERABAD: The TSRTC on Monday announced that it would operate 6,000 special buses to ferry devotees to Medaram jatara between February 18 and 25.
TSRTC managing director VC Sajjanar said that a TSRTC base camp will be started in Medaram on February 16. Around 14,000 RTC staff will be deployed for the festival and special measures are being taken for their accommodation and meals.
Stating that all the arrangements are being made to avoid any inconvenience to the devotees, Sajjanar said that the TSRTC is expecting 30 lakh devotees to visit the fair and plans are being made to provide transportation facilities accordingly. As a huge rush of devotees is expected from Warangal, Karimnagar, Khammam and Adilabad districts, 51 traffic-generating points have been identified.
Meanwhile, Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar on Monday along with Tribal Welfare Minister Danasari Anasuya (Seethakka) inspected the ongoing developmental works at Medaram and offered prayers to the Sammakka-Saralamma deities. They checked ticket counters at Tadvai, parking points at Kamaram and the temporary bus stand spread across 55 acres and 48 queue railings set up at Medaram.
Speaking to the media, Prabhakar said that the government had allocated 10 acres of land for TSRTC, facilitating the setup of queue lines and shelters at the jatara.
Under the Mahalakshmi scheme, 14.05 crore women have availed free bus travel, with an average of 70,000 devotees commuting daily to Medaram during the festival.
Furthermore, the transport minister assured that the TSRTC would continue regular bus services to Medaram village even after the completion of the four-day festival.