TSRTC gearing up for Krishna Pushkarams

​Nalgonda: The TSRTC in the district is gearing up to play a key role in transporting the people during the Krishna Pushkarams this year. As per the directions of the State government, the district administration has arranged 28 Pushkar ghats along Devarakonda, Miryalaguda, Huzurnagar, Nagarjuna Sagar and Nalgonda Assembly constituencies near River Krishna.

Among these 28 Pushkar ghats in the district, the government has recognised Nagarjuna Sagar, Vadapally, and Mattapally as major Pushkar ghats. In view of the heavy influx of the devotees, district RTC has decided to run more buses to the three major Pushkar ghats. According to official information, the district has seven bus depots and 743 buses were being pressed into service to ferry the passengers to their destination daily.

Of the total buses, around 350 buses are going to be engaged for Pushkaram purpose from Devarakonda,Kodad,Nalgonda and Miryalguda depots. As per the plan of district TSRTC officials, Devarakonda bus depot will run total 65 buses to various Pushkar ghats for the convenience of devotees.

Among these, 40 buses would be run between Hyderabad to Nagarjuna Sagar and the remaining 25 buses will run from Devarakonda and Konda Mallepally base points to Puttangadi, Azmapur, Peddamunagala and Kasarajpally minor Pushkar ghats. Apart from these, four buses will be run from Devarakonda to Darveshpuram of Kangal Mandal in Nalgonda constituency.

So also making Kodad and Huzurnagar as a base camp, the Kodad depot will run 15 buses each to Mattampally major Pushkar ghat from the base points. 11 buses of Kodad depot provides transportation to Chintriyala, Krishnapuram, Vaginally and Buggamadam minor Pushkar ghats from Kodad.

Also, in view of Andhra settlers and for those desirous of taking darshan of Goddess Kanakadurga, the district RTC would like to run 15 buses between Kodad and Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. The officials have taken a decision to run 50 buses of Nalgonda depot exclusively between Nalgonda and Nagarjuna Sagar major Pushkar ghat, from Nalgonda depot four buses will shuttle to Pangal Pushkar ghat and 4 buses to Darveshpuram Pushkar ghat of Kangal Mandal.

In Miryalguda depot, 69 buses would be pressed into service. Of the 69 buses, 40 buses would be engaged between Miryalaguda and one of the major Pushkar ghats Vadapally. Four buses to Irkigudem, 10 buses to Satrashala, five buses to Mudimanikyam Major and five buses will run between Nereducherla and Mhakaligudem Pushkar ghat. Five buses will run between Miryalaguda and Nagarjuna Sagar.

To avoid inconvenience and traffic jams during Pushkarams at major Pushkar ghats, the district administration decided to stop all RTC and private vehicles at separate parking places which are likely to be 9 km from the ghats. Parking places would also be organised. Speaking to the media here on Sunday, district RTC Deputy Chief Traffic Manager Madhusudan informed that during the Krishna Pushkarams held in 2004, the district RTC ran buses to 12 Pushkar ghats in the district.

He said that nearly 144 buses were pressed into service every day making 657 trips and helping ferry 60,000 devotees to reach the Pushkar ghats located within the district and rest of the united Andhra Pradesh. He said that this time, about 350 buses would be run to transport the devotees to their choice of Pushkar ghats in the district and at Vijayawada to have the holy dip in Krishna water.

He said that passengers would have to pay 1.5 times the normal ticket rate to reach the Pushkar Ghat destinations. He further informed that help centers, water facility , tents, and temporary toilets in Nalgonda, Miryalaguda,Kodad, Huzurnagar, Devarakonda and Parking places of Major Pushkar ghats would be arranged for the convenience of the devotees.