With the beginning of Sankrathi holidays for the children of the city, the bus stands and railway stations are packed with homeward people and passengers are finding it difficult to find space in the compartments and buses. The main railway stations in the city, Secunderabad, Kacheguda and Nampally are filled to the capacity of the platforms with passengers virtually fighting to board the trains. The situation at the bus stands is not much different with passengers unable to find seats.
The roads that lead to Andhra areas like Vijayawada, Kurnool and Macherla are also packed as the private agencies have opened temporary ticket issuing centers. Traffic on these roads is coming to a halt as private and RTC buses are occupying the roads. City commuters are caught in the traffic for hours on the roads. The railway stations and trains especially leaving to Machilipatnam, Guntur and Vijayawada are witnessing scores of passengers.
While the families who anticipated the festive rush and booked tickets in advance for a comfortable travel are happy while those travelling in the general compartments are cursing the rush. The Secunderabad railway station is witnessing thousands of passengers leaving for Andhra and Kerala. During the pilgrimage season, hundreds of devotees leaving for Sabarimala in Kerala turned out in large numbers, thereby making the railway station choc a bloc. The huge volume of passengers has forced the rail authorities to open additional ticket booking counters.
