Bus, railways stations chock-a-block

People head to various destinations taking advantage of the holidays in a row

Passengers, heavy rush at the MGBS in Hyderabad during the festivals session, on Sunday. Photo. G. Ramakrishna

The two big bus stations in the twin cities — Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS) and Jubilee Bus Station — together with the three railway stations of Secunderabad, Nampally and Kacheguda, witnessed a footfall of nearly eight lakh passengers and their friends and relatives who had come to either receive them or see them off on Sunday.

The long weekend starting from the second Saturday to Sunday, followed by Krishnashtami on Monday and the Independence Day on August 15 sparked off what was virtually an exodus of people bound out of the twin cities to various destinations in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and other States.

On their part, the South Central Railway pressed into service several special trains apart from augmenting capacity by attaching extra coaches to existing trains, as did the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation that introduced special buses by the dozens. But the rush was so much that the efforts seemed grossly inadequate.

A walk around the Secunderabad railway station showed the intensity of the situation. On the foot overbridge over the platforms from one to 10, the rush was maddening, what with people jostling and pushing each other, even using their baggage to hurt people crossing them.

Several passengers felt that the presence of personnel of the Government Railway Police and the Railway Protection Force could have helped bring in some sort of regulation. Help desks set up by the railways did help to some extent by providing much-needed information to the passengers, but that was all.

Sanitation on the Secunderabad station went for a toss as people threw trash including food packets and soft drinks, left right and centre sending the sanitation station scurrying to clear them. Parking at the station too became a problem as people who bought tickets while entering the lot did not have space to park their vehicles.

In contrast to the situation at the Secunderabad railway station, things at the MGBS appeared to be a mite more comfortable for passengers and even as far as parking space was concerned.