Sankranti has citizens home-bound Most travellers are expected to return by January 17, when schools reopen
Hyderabad roads are wearing a deserted look ahead of the Sankranti holidays. Scores of residents have left the city to celebrate the festival in their native places, while some others have taken off on holiday for the festive weekend. The effect: Commutes on crowded roads that used to take hours on normal days is now over in less than half the time.
With office-goers on a long weekend for Sankranti, autorickshaws and cabs have largely remained confined to their stands. The crowds at Metro stations too have decreased. Traffic jams have decreased significantly in Cyberabad area as most of the techies have left for their hometowns.
Instead, fleets of private buses are taking over city roads, particularly after 10 pm, when most working professionals start the journey to their hometowns for the festival.
Most of the travellers are expected to return by January 17. Schools in the city will also reopen on January 17, allowing several families to plan a long holiday till next Wednesday. Railway stations, bus-stops and the city airport are seeing a huge rush of travellers.
Due to heavy rush of passengers at the railway stations, South Central Railway authorities have increased the platform ticket of Secundrabad, Kacheguda and Hyderabad railway stations from `10 to `20 with the aim to have less crowd at the stations.
Sundeep Kumar Makthala from Telangana Information Technology Association (TITA) said, “Among the 4.2 lakh IT professionals in Hyderabad, a majority are from the two Telugu states. A good 30-40 per cent of these have taken leaves to extend the weekend to go back home for Sankranti. The support staff in IT companies is also on leave, leaving canteens and other places in the campus looking deserted.
For the rest of the people, the kite festivals planned by the state government are going to be a big attraction.
B. Dheeraj Babu, a resident of Manikonda, said, “I am celebrating Sankranti for the first time after my wedding and plan to go to Annavaram to my in-laws’ place to celebrate the festival. We had to pay hefty price for bus tickets. We couldn’t get reservation in trains due to heavy rush.”