Hyderabad wore a deserted look on Saturday as people left for their hometowns to celebrate Makar Sankranti. The week was punctuated with a series of holidays, coupled with the most important festival of the calendar. Otherwise, normally busy streets like Ameerpet, Punjagutta, Koti, Bowenpally, Malakpet, Uppal, Kukatpally, Miyapur, and Kondapur, crisscrossing with a wide variety of vehicles honking and bonking , was conspicuous by its absence.
The traffic police in three urban commissionerates -- Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda -- who exert much on the roads, were relaxed a lot as vehicles moved sparsely. Similarly, owing to increasing COVID-19 cases, and the festival recess, the traffic cops have scaled down chasing drunk drivers through their special enforcement drives.
“Normally the three days during Sankranthi see very little traffic as people go to their native places, but our job becomes more tough as they start flooding the roads early next week,” a traffic cop said.
The officer also feared accidents involving over-speeding might see a spike due to deserted roads. Meanwhile, air and sound pollution in the city has also seen a marginal dip.
