Festive toll collection at plazas on the NH-65 (Hyderabad-Vijayawada) and the connecting State highways in undivided Nalgonda district picked up on Sunday with Andhra Pradesh-origin people heading to their home towns for Sankranti.
In the wake of holidays for educational institutions in Telangana, and the combining weekend dates, the rise in volume of motorists at the plazas began on Saturday, a few days earlier than the previous seasons. While about 27,000 passenger car units per day being the busy average, officials at Pantangi toll plaza estimate that an additional 5,000 units were added in the 24 hours till the wee hours of Sunday. The toll complexes would be busy and the overall daily figure would continue to hover around the 30,000-mark over the next two days too, say plaza operators.
On Sunday, poor visibility owing to the morning fog discouraged fast travel on the highway. Although there was no traffic congestion, queues at toll plazas took more than the prescribed waiting time to exit the gates, mostly for reasons of ‘inactive FASTags’.
Pantangi toll plaza at Choutuppal and Korlapahada toll plaza near Suryapet, except for the slack in the afternoon, showed continued activity for the rest of the day. Operators, forecasting increasing numbers, have also kept the maximum lanes open for vehicles going towards Vijayawada. Ten of the 16 lanes at Pantangi and nine lanes at Korlapahad were kept open for seamless transit.
Besides arrangements such as employing additional staff at the entrances to plazas, project concessionaire GMR Infrastructure is also popularising the 1033 helpline. The toll-free emergency highway helpline not only alerts officials for ambulance and crane service, kept available at every 30 kms on the stretch till Vijayawada, but also comes to the aid of aggrieved motorists, whose FASTag stickers for whatever valid reasons are not accepted by plaza operators.
Meanwhile, Rachakonda and Cyberabad police commissionerates have issued advisory to festival travellers. The commissionerate limits include colonies that are located along the city borders and has sizeable population of residents from Andhra Pradesh. In addition to increased patrolling in the week, as locked houses are easy targets for burglars, police in a set of to-dos and tips also said residents could pass on travel information to the respective police station.
Rachakonda police control room can be contacted at 9494721100 and Cyberabad police control room can be contacted at 9490617100.
