Festive rush strains travellers as bus operators hike fares

Vizianagaram: People who visited their native places to celebrate Sankranti with their friends and relatives are struggling to return to their work places. Lakhs of people, from migrant labourers to IT pro-fessionals visited villages in north Andhra districts for the festival.

However, they are finding it difficult to return to their places of work. Particularly, those de-pend on trains are unable to book tickets. Train tickets for Sankranti were being booked within hours of being made available on the IRCTC platform, leaving many with no confirmed seats.

Special trains operated to clear the rush are overcrowded, with passengers crammed into compartments. Adding to their woes, private bus operators have blocked tickets for the five peak days of Sankranti celebrations, doing away with online bookings thus forcing passengers to rely on spot purchases.

The bus owners also hiked bus fares significantly, exploiting the demand. This hike in ticket prices has become a financial burden for many travellers. With limited options, passengers are forced to either travel by general compartments in trains, which are already crowded, or pay exorbitant fares for private buses.

“I came home for Sankranti after a year, but now returning to Hyderabad has become a night-mare. The private bus operators are charging double the usual fare,” said Rajesh Kumar, a software engineer.

Manoj from Parvathipuram says, “My family of four had to spend a whopping Rs 10,000 to get back home, a significant amount for a typical middleclass household.” The situation highlights the need for better planning and increased transportation facilities during peak festive sea-sons.

Generally, a seating bus ticket from Vizianagaram to Hyderabad would not be more than Rs 1,000 but now it has reached to around Rs 3,000.

K Ramakriahna, a travel booking agent, said during off season we reduce prices but in this peak season, the bus operators squeeze the money from public which is unavoidable.