Traffic jam on highways

GODAVARI PUSHKARALU

Hyderabad: Thousands of devotees were left stranded due to traffic jam on all roads that led to various Pushkar Ghats in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Starting from Basara to Antaravedi, people flocked in large numbers during to the weekend holidays and unexpected increase of traffic in Ranga Reddy, Medak, Warangal, Nizamabad and Vijayawada resulted in national highways getting jammed on Saturday.

Taking advantage of two consecutive holidays on Saturday (Ramzan) and Sunday, people from the city and suburbs hired private vehicles to reach venues, while others travelled in their own cars. Ghats right from Adilabad to Bhadrachalam were the most sought-after ones.

The NH-44 which connects Karimnagar and NH-5 which leads to Rajahmundry turned a sea of vehicles. There were traffics jams at least 2 to 5 kms in various places. Roads leading to Karimnagar and Nizamabad were the worst affected. According to The Hans India reporters, it took about 10 hours for vehicles from Visakhapatnam to reach Rajahmundry.

According to official figures, about 12 lakh people took dip in the Godavari till noon. For pilgrims who headed for Kaleswaram, it was an equally bad experience. It took more than seven hours to cover 120 kms from Warangal to Kaleshwaram, the confluence of the Godavari and the Pranahita and also the abode of Mukteeshwara Swamy.

Due to the weekend rush, estimated to be around 5 lakh, caused several hardships en route to Kaleshwaram. The 3-km journey from the parking facility to the riverbank was even more energy-sapping even for fitness freaks. The Karimnagar district administration had made elaborate arrangements for the convenience of pilgrims, including allowing sharing auto-rickshaws to Pushkar Ghats, but everything went haywire because of the unprecedented rush.

Huge number of cars and buses, mostly coming from Hyderabad, lined up along the tiny approach road as the police grappled with the issue of clearing traffic till late night. Chief Ministers of both the Telugu speaking States, K Chandrashekar Rao and NChandrababu Naidu reviewed the situation and directed that the toll gates should stop collecting toll fee so that the movement of traffic could be eased.

Chandrashekar Rao directed the DGP to send traffic department staff to districts to regulate the traffic for the next two days. Cranes are also being deployed along the routes to clear vehicles that get stuck in the middle of road due to technical or other issues. This would ensure smooth flow of traffic without any delay. The police decided that vehicles should be diverted on alternative routes in case of heavy rush on main routes.

The officials have been asked to ensure that boats and swimmers were available round-the- clock at Pushkar Ghats. Queue lines should be formed for temple darshan so that children, women and handicapped persons do not face hardships. Ministers and bureaucrats who were given responsibilities of various Pushkar Ghats have been asked to personally monitor the situation.

Vehicles, other than RTC buses, are being stopped at a distance of 2-5 kms from the Pushkar Ghats to avoid stampede. Many helpline centres have been set up to for effective management of information like the details of any traffic jam or untoward incident during the festival.

In order to clear the huge crowd of stranded passengers for Godavari Pushkaralu, the South Central Railways decided to run special trains from Saturday to July 24.