Due to the Pongal holiday, bus and train stations were crowded with passengers going to their hometowns from Chennai.
Thousands of people left in their own vehicles and there was a heavy traffic jam.
The Tamil festival of Pongal is celebrated on Monday. In view of this, schools, colleges and offices have been given a 5-day holiday from Saturday.
In this case, the expatriates living in Chennai started leaving for their hometowns by bus and train from Friday.
Traffic Congestion: Buses are plying from Koyambedu, Klambakkam, KK Nagar, Madhavaram, Poontamalli, Thambaram for the convenience of commuters going to their hometowns from Chennai and to avoid crowding at one place.
As a result, instead of going to Koyambedu, people go directly to where the bus to their hometown will go, so the crowd at the bus station is less than before.
However, heavy traffic was witnessed on major roads with commuters going to the bus station from various parts of the city.
Especially the Poontamalli Highway, GST. Road, Anna Road and other major roads were heavily traffic jammed. Passengers going to the newly-opened Klambakkam bus terminal faced difficulties as there were no connecting buses from Tambaram and Vandalur by electric trains to avoid the traffic jam.
2.80 lakh road travel: Additional buses are being run for the convenience of commuters from Chennai to their hometowns. Last Friday alone, 1,260 special buses were run along with 2,100 regular buses. Through this, 1,94,880 passengers traveled.
As of 4 pm on Saturday, 85,131 passengers have traveled by 1,729 buses. A total of 2,80,011 passengers have traveled by buses alone.
On Sunday (Jan 14) 1,904 special buses from Chennai and 3,361 special buses from other areas are running. 95,352 passengers have booked in these special buses.
Minister’s inspection: Transport Minister S.C.Sivashank personally inspected and inspected the operation of special buses organized on behalf of government transport corporations at Madhavaram and Poontamalli bus stations on the occasion of Pongal festival.