Sankranti rush sees 1,42,888 vehicles crossing Panthangi toll plaza in 2 days

HYDERABAD: As thousands of people from twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and other parts of Telangana headed for various destinations in Andhra Pradesh to celebrate Sankranti, as many as 1,42,888 vehicles passed through the toll plaza at Panthangi, which falls in the Rachakonda Police Commissionerate, during the last couple of days. All the buses of APSRTC and TSRTC were packed with passengers and thousands of cars and other vehicles lined up on the National Highway-65 as they waited at the toll plaza for clearance. The Panthangi is the first of toll plazas on the NH-65 from Hyderabad to Vijayawada.

Such a heavy flow of vehicles gave the Rachakonda Commissionerate police tense moments as they kept vigil to prevent any untoward incident on the national highway.  The Panthangi toll gate in Choutuppal mandal saw a total of 56,595 vehicles crossing it on Thursday. The vehicles included 42,844 cars, 1,300 RTC buses, 4,913 private buses, 7,538 goods carriers and other vehicles.

On Friday, 67,577 vehicles passed through the toll gate. Among them were 53,561 cars, 1,851 RTC buses, 4,906 private buses and 7,259 goods vehicles. Similarly, the toll gate at Bibinagar witnessed 17,844 cars and 872 buses heading from Hyderabad to Warangal during the last two days.

A mass of passengers were seen waiting at LB Nagar to catch any mode of transport to reach their destination in Andhra Pradesh for two days on Thursday and Saturday. Teams of officials from TSRTC and traffic police wings worked tirelessly for the past two days to regulate vehicles and passengers at bus stands and other boarding points in the city. GMR toll gate maintenance staff and traffic police also joined hands to maintain order at toll plazas as thousands of vehicles made their way to their destinations.