Not only is traffic choking ahead of Sankranti, but records are being broken at Panthangi toll plaza, the main gateway between the two Telugu States on the NH 65 (Hyderabad-Vijayawada) in Nalgonda.
The second busiest toll plaza in the State, after Raikal plaza in Mahabubnagar on NH 44 (Hyderabad-Bengaluru), Panthangi plaza in Choutuppal had received 50,275 vehicles on Saturday. According to officials, this is the maximum number of vehicles that passed the plaza in both the directions on a single day till now, on Saturday, the first day of the Sankranti festivities.
The average daily figures of the two busiest toll plazas, calculated as passenger car unit or PCU per day, as recorded earlier was 25,686 vehicles at Raikal and 20,136 vehicles at Panthangi.
And, the record flow of vehicles continued unabated on Sunday, as people headed back home for the festival, posting similar and higher figures.Vehicles were stranded in long queues, of up to 2 km occasionally, but immediate measures such as toll personnel walking up to the drivers with hand-held devices and the maximum nine lanes kept open, brought temporary relief.
Figures available till 7 p.m. showed approximately 40,000 vehicles had passed in both directions, and the busiest Vijayawada side recorded nearly 70% of the total count. Of the 27,093 vehicles that passed in that direction at the time, only 12,237 vehicles were FasTAG-stickered, about 45%, and also lower than Saturday’s performance.
For FasTAG riders, there has not been much privilege to enjoy a hassle-free, time and fuel saving experience at the plazas yet. All the lanes are mixed lanes without any exclusivity, accepting FasTAG-stickered vehicles and cash payments also, like in the pre-FasTAG times.
