HYDERABAD: With the Sankranti week coming to an end, many who had gone home for the festival returned to Hyderabad on Saturday night, while the rest are expected to reach the city by Monday morning.
The toll plazas are choc-a-block with cars lining up to pay the toll to pass through. The stretches on Kurnool and Vijayawada highways had slow moving traffic as people continued to return to Hyderabad till late on Sunday night.
To clear the rush, especially on cash lanes, the toll officials operated hand-held machines to complete the transactions faster. "At all the toll plazas being operated by us, we have provided at least 20 hand-held machines to our staff to complete the transactions quickly. The vehicles just have to show the receipt and move ahead. The rush is considerable, but we are clearing it soon," said Sri Reddy from GMR.
On the other hand, the Cyberabad traffic police thought on their feet given the heavy rush and issued an advisory on its social media platforms to all the commuters taking national highways to be careful and maintain discipline while heading back to the city as several accidents tend to occur on stretches with high speed traffic.
The TSRTC, to clear the extra rush, operated over 400 additional buses from important districts to Hyderabad on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. "The services will continue till Monday afternoon. Apart from these additional buses, nearly 120-140 buses will be operated from several areas in Andhra Pradesh to Telangana," said an RTC official.