Hyderabad: Ahoy home! Denizens in hordes leave city for fest

Hyderabad: With the festival of Sankranti around the corner, on Thursday, all the roads linking to major areas in the city, such as Paradise Junction, Miyapur, Punjagutta Circle, Khairtabad Junction, Uppal, and LB Nagar, were clogged with vehicular traffic. Since the early hours, people have been heading to railway stations, and bus stations, and due to the non-availability of train or bus tickets, few opt for private vehicles to leave for their hometown to celebrate the festival.

Meanwhile, a massive rush was witnessed at the Secunderabad and Nampally Railway Stations. Despite the increase in special trains, passengers are facing hardships getting into the trains to reach their destinations. Similar scenes were witnessed in the Jubilee Bus Station and MGBS, despite TSRTC increasing the number of buses, people have been complaining that the frequency of buses was very low.

"It's been a week, we are witnessing huge footfall in Secunderabad and Nampally Railway Stations, officials of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) have been deployed at the entrance as well as on the platforms to manage the crowd. Apart from this, nearly 540 special train services have been introduced, and these have varied coach compositions, including both reserved and unreserved coaches catering to all segments of passengers, as we are expecting more rush in the coming days, special trains to control the crowd will be pressed into service " said a senior officer of SCR.

"To cope with the festive rush, all necessary arrangements have been made to take citizens safely to their destinations, and measures were put in place to ensure that passengers do not face any inconvenience, a total of 4,233 buses are plying in various destinations that include Vijayawada, Kurnool, and Rajahmundry and other places. TSRTC has made arrangements for the departure of buses to respective destinations from Aramghar, L.B. Nagar, KPHB, Gachibowli, Jubilee Bus Station, MGBS, Uppal, and Bowenpally. Also, at the bus stations, mobile toilets have been set up, and for emergency purposes, a small health camp has been set up," said a senior officer of TSRTC.

Speaking to some passengers who thronged to various stations, they said, "It's very disappointing that even after booking the train tickets a month ago, yet I am still on the waiting list. Even the special trains are packed, said Srinivas, who was traveling to Srikakulam. "Sankranti is a major festival for our two Telugu states, every year I make a point to visit my village, but this year due to heavy rush, I am forced to opt for a private vehicle, " said Ramesh, who was heading to Vijayawada in his private vehicle. "It's been an hour, and we have been waiting for the bus to Visakhapatnam, TSRTC is claiming that they have increased buses, but so far, no bus has arrived yet, it will be better during the festive season to control the crowd, transport department should come up with specials arrangements, said Rohan Reddy, a passenger who is waiting for the bus at JBS.