The Dwaraka and Maddilapalem bus stations witnessed a heavy rush on Tuesday, as a large number of people gathered there to go to their native places on the occasion of Sankranti festival.
There were long queue lines at ticket booking counters of non-stop buses. Though the RTC officials operated non-stop buses to Narsipatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam and Kakinada for every 10 to 15 minutes, all the buses were packed. Seats of the buses were occupied in less than a minute after the vehicles were kept at the bays. The RTC officials have arranged 1,000 special buses to various parts of the State, apart from Telangana and Tamil Nadu.
These special buses are being operated in addition to regular ones.
Several people have reserved their seats to avoid rush. A large section of people were seen boarding the buses, despite the officials telling them that all seats were booked.
They were ready to stand all along the journey. Conductors of a few buses were seen informing the passengers that 90% of seats were reserved and board only if they are ready to stand and take the journey. Women travelling with their children faced a lot of problems.
“We are not aware of online booking and till the last two days, we had not planned our trip. It is tough to stand and go for almost three or four hours, but there is no option,” said Trinadh, a daily labourer, who was leaving along with his wife and two children, to a village located about 40 km from Palasa in Srikakulam district on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 norms were thrown to the wind at the bus stations. Leave alone sanitising hands while boarding a bus, most of the passengers were not even wearing masks. Conductors who were busy managing the crowd expressed helplessness and requested people to wear masks.
Police constables conducted checks to avoid thefts, chain-snatchings and other crimes. RTC and police officials made announcements in mikes urging people to take precautions.
Taking advantage of the rush, a few private travel buses running to various destinations in and around the State were seen charging double the price from passengers.
Officials from the Transport Department have conducted raids on various private travel buses and booked 27 cases.
Deputy Transport Commissioner G.C. Raja Ratnam said that they have formed special teams and have been conducting raids since January 11.
Five buses were found charging more from the passengers, seven were found not maintaining passenger details, seven were flouting/misusing stage carrier norms and one was found flouting COVID-19 protocol, he said.
“Buses charging extra fares from the passengers will be seized,” he warned.
