Private buses add to traffic choas

Nellore: City commuters, who are travelling on the mini bypass road, are stuck in traffic during evening busy hours due to parking of private travel buses on either side of the road. No sincere effort from the traffic cops to take action against these buses.

Huge lands on the banks of Sarvepalli canal close to the bypass road have been encroached giving no scope for parking of private travel buses. The civic body did not take steps for construction of parking lots in the city. 

No action was taken against private bus services by officials concerned, even though, they were creating trouble to the commuters till midnight. Mini bypass road which is parallel to the GNT road in the city has been designed to relieve pressure on the main road by diverting the commuters, who travel towards southern parts of the city up to Ayyappa Temple and Podalakur Road.

It became routine for private travel services to park on the mini bypass road and gradually travel agents opened offices on the road and converted the area as a bus station to halt private travel buses.

There are around 20-25 travel agencies that operate services between Ramalingapuram Junction and Atmakur Bus Stand for providing tickets up to Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Kurnool, Tirupati, Chennai, Bengaluru and many other cities. Even though, there are private stands at Simhapuri Hotel for parking these vehicles, these operators are parking on the main road and also on Muthukur Road.

After 7 pm, the mini bypass road witnesses’ huge traffic on either side of the road and private buses occupy more than 50 per cent of road space choking the traffic up to midnight. 

“In fact, there should be a provision for parking these vehicles at some place. A site was provided for truck stand at Inamadugu Centre. Sarvepalli Canal has been encroached by many people and there has been no action on such activities,” said G Rammurthy, a private employee, who regularly travels from Stonehousepet up to BV Nagar in city. 

Traffic rules say heavy vehicles have to enter the city only after 8.30 pm via mini bypass road. Interestingly, private buses are being allowed even from 6 pm till midnight without any limitations. The civic body failed to take action against private travel buses which are obstructing vehicular 
movement.