HYDERABAD: With lakhs of people packing up their bags to go to their native places in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for Sankranti, bus and railway stations in the city were crowded with people and vehicles lined up in never-ending rows at the toll plazas.
All the roads heading towards Vijayawada, Warangal, Kurnool and other parts of Telangana and AP were choked with buses, cars and other vehicles. Sankranti holiday-makers were desperate to catch whatever mode of transport was available to reach their destinations. As a result, flights, trains and buses were crowded.
To clear the festive rush, the South Central Railway (SCR) is operating over 200 special trains. The number of ticket counters has been increased to 21 from 12 at the Secunderabad Railway Station.
Similarly, the number of ticket checking staff has been increased from 20 to 40, so as to provide point-to-point guidance to the passengers for boarding the right trains. Special directives have been given to the ticket checking staff to restrict the entry of unauthorised passengers into reserved coaches and prevent jostling and stampedes at the stations.
TSRTC is also running well over 4,000 special buses to clear the rush. The corporation has also made available TSRTC bus tracking app in the buses to help track the bus while going to their native places. It has arranged a separate lane at toll plazas for Sankranti special buses. “Don’t waste your time by going to Sankranti in your vehicles and waiting for hours at toll plazas. Travel by TSRTC buses and reach destinations faster through dedicated lanes at toll plazas,” said TSRTC MD VC Sajjanar.
Taking advantage of huge rush, private vehicle operators have a field day. They are demanding as much as Rs 4,000 per passenger for some cities in AP.Hundreds of vehicles heading for Vijayawada from Hyderabad waited for hours for clearance at the two toll plazas at Korlapadu in Nalgonda district and Panthangi in Yadadri district on the National Highway 65 on Friday.
In view of heavy rush, toll plaza organisers have reduced gate lifting time from four seconds to two for vehicles with Fastags. On normal days, 25,000 vehicles go towards Vijayawada. For Sankranti, the number of vehicles more than double, police said. They have deployed cranes and ambulances at various places on the highway.