PNBS, railway station chock-a-block with homeward-bound electors

Vehicles in large numbers started arriving at toll plazas from early hours of Wednesday and the rush continued till late night. 
Unmindful of the risk, people boarding a moving train at the Vijayawada railway station on Wednesday | P Ravindra Babu
Unmindful of the risk, people boarding a moving train at the Vijayawada railway station on Wednesday | P Ravindra Babu
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VIJAYAWADA: Unprecedented rush was witnessed at the railway station and Pandit Nehru Bus Station (PNBS) in the city on Wednesday as majority of the migrant population were seen going to their native places in North Andhra districts and neighbouring Telangana to exercise their franchise on Thursday.

The PNBS was chock-a-block with all benches and other seating places filled to their maximum capacity. 
“Despite the tall claims made by the APSRTC officials about operation of special buses to meet the passenger rush during the election, the situation at the ground level was completely different. Majority of the RTC buses are jam-packed. With no option left, I boarded an AC bus to go to my hometown Vizianagaram though the travel was quite expensive for me,”  said P Vishnuvardhan.

Speaking to TNIE, APSRTC Executive Director (Operations) KVRK Prasad said that about 500 special buses were allocated to each district as per the requisition of Collectors to shift men and material on the polling day. Usually, 534 RTC buses are operated a day from Hyderabad to major cities in the State.  
Informing about the reservation status in special buses, he said that all seats in 249 special buses between Hyderabad and Vijayawada were reserved in advance. About 40 more special buses would be arranged to meet the rush. Buses operating between Bangalore and Vijayawada were also packed. 

“A review is being on conducted with Regional Managers on daily basis to assess the total requirement of special buses to meet the rush in election time.  Special buses will be run for the return journey of people on April 14 night and tickets can be reserved at https://apsrtconline.in/oprs-web/,” he said.

The situation at Vijayawada railway station was also the same with a huge number of passengers heading to  Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Bangalore and Chennai. The SCR has operated three Jansadharan special trains between Secunderabad and Tirupati and Lingampalli and Kakinada Town to clear the extra rush of passengers. Additional coaches are added to most of the express trains in view of the heavy rush.

Many passengers were seen running on the platforms to catch the trains for their respective hometowns. 
Toll plazas on NH-16 between Hyderabad and Vijayawada witnessed traffic snarls as hundreds of vehicles were heading towards Vijayawada and twin Godavari districts. 

Vehicles in large numbers started arriving at toll plazas from early hours of Wednesday and the rush continued till late night. 

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