A two km-long line was seen at Choutuppal toll plaza, while there were lesser queues at Panthangi/Korlapahad plaza en route to Vijayawada and Madugulapalli plaza that leads to Guntur, with people headed towards different destinations in Andhra Pradesh for Sankranthi festival.
The main toll plaza, however, is the one at Choutuppal that falls in the newly-formed Yadadri district and that is where the congestion occurs. “We allowed the use of Paytm and credit card and this led to initial delays,” said District Collector Anita Ramachandran, adding that 10 additional counters were opened at Choutuppal.
“Considering the heavy crowds that were witnessed, we posted additional force and Sub-Inspectors at the toll plazas, mainly at Choutuppal, to ensure smooth flow of traffic,” said Deputy Commissioner of Rachakonda (Yadadri). It was said that crowds were seen early in the morning and towards evening, what with people travelling in their personal vehicles to destinations in Andhra Pradesh. The number of people leaving for AP is expected to swell on Friday, and the administration in the districts along the main route leading to Vijayawada and beyond has been gearing up to handle the traffic.
On the National Highway leading to Bengaluru though, the rush was comparatively less. It was expected to peak towards late on Thursday night and Friday. The main check-posts on the road to Bengaluru were the one at Raikal near Shadnagar, Shakapur in Addakal mandal in Mahabubnagar district and Pullur in Jogulamba district. Reports had it that there was not much rush witnessed on the stretch, as of Thursday evening.
