Buses, trains crammed with return passengers

Vizianagaram: After Sankranti festival, all busses and trains are running with heavy rush as people are returning to their working places. Thousands of people working at faraway places like Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Chennai reached to their native places to celebrate the Sankranti festival with their families and near and dear ones. After the festival they are in return journey and leaving for their work places.

As a result, every bus and train are crammed with public. No train and bus have a room to step in between Rayagada-Guntur, Bhuvaneswar-Hyderabad and Howrah-Chennai. After Kanuma festival, people are returning to their places, from where did they come for this Sankranti. Even new bridegrooms are also visit their in-laws’ house for the first time after marriage. But some people preferring auto rickshaws to reach their nearby towns and villages like Bobbili and Vizianagaram.

The APSRTC has been operating special services to various destinations to clear the rush but those are not enough to meet the passengers rush. Indian railways also running special trains between Vijayawada and Vizianagaram during these four days. On the other side, the private bus operators are fleecing customers to encash the demand.

They are collecting around Rs 2,500 to Hyderabad and Rs 1,500 to Vijayawada against the normal fare of Rs 1,000 and Rs 600. But the people who have no reservation tickets in trains are forced to cough up the amount to reach their destinations. RTC Regional Manager P Appalaraju stated “RTC is running special services to various destinations to meet the passengers rush.

The special buses will be available in Parvathipuram, Srikakulam, Palakonda, Salur, Vizag and Bezawada routes.”  K Lalitha, a software professional, stated, “I have no reservation ticket for trains as all the berths were booked long back. So, I paid abnormal price to private bus operator to reach Hyderabad. This became common practice for us during festival.”