Festive rush chokes Hyd-Vij highway

Hyderabad: As thousands of families from Hyderabad and outskirts headed to their native places in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for Sankranti, the Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway continued to see traffic jams on Sunday. Several cars, buses and other vehicles queued up at toll plazas on the highway even as authorities took special measures to ease congestion. A huge rush was seen at the Panthangi toll plaza on NH-65 near Choutuppal in the Yadadri-Bhongir district.

According to officials, in view of the rush, authorities opened additional gates. Vehicles were allowed to pass towards the AP side through 12 gates. Only four gates were functioned for vehicles coming to Hyderabad from AP. Officials said 1.43 lakh vehicles passed through the toll plaza on Friday and Saturday. The flow of vehicles increased eightfold compared to normal days. Officials said the FastTag facility was ensuring smooth movement of vehicles through the toll plaza. More than 1,000 vehicles per hour were passing through the toll plaza from Hyderabad towards Vijayawada.

Officials said on normal days, 150-200 vehicles pass through the route. There was a huge traffic jam on the highway from Abdullapurmet to Kothaduem, at Choutuppal and also at Korlapahad toll plaza in Nalgonda district.

Meanwhile, bus/railway stations in Hyderabad and Secunderabad were packed with passengers heading to their destinations in both the Telugu states. The TSRTC announced it will operate 6,432 special buses for those travelling to their hometowns. The buses will operate until January 15, covering destinations within Telangana and neighbouring States. The APSRTC announced it will operate 7,200 special buses from various parts of AP and neighbouring States.

As many as 3,900 buses will run until January 13 to accommodate passengers travelling before Sankranti; 3,300 buses will operate after Sankranti for the return journey. Of the 3,900 special buses, 2,153 will operate from Hyderabad. The South Central Railway is running 366 special trains to clear extra rush during Sankranti.