Festival high: Highways jammed

As Sankranti festivities have started building up at a feverish pitch, people, especially in urban centres like Hyderabad, have set out on a much-awaited journey homeward to celebrate the harvest festival on January 14. Sankranti is the most preferred time for the urban people to re-connect with their roots. Though, all modes of transport have been witnessing heavy rush, as the final hours of festival approach, the rush for accommodation on whatever means of transport available has peaked. In Hyderabad, railway and bus stations are packed with passengers.

Especially, the road leading towards Vijayawada is choking with vehicles as lakhs are heading home to celebrate Sankranti, leaving the city roads nearly deserted. Scores of special services of the railways and the RTC have proved to be inadequate to tackle the unprecedented rush this year. Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS), Jubilee Bus Station (JBS) and other bus stands at Dilsukhnagar and L B Nagar in the State capital are teeming with people. APSRTC is running 5,500 special buses while the South Central Railway (SCR) is operating about 50 trains to clear the festival rush. As jostling begins in the last minute rush, one comes across chaotic scenes at all major departing hubs in the city.