Pushkaralu: Vehicles Stranded On NH 44 For Hours

Vehicular traffic on the Rajeev Rahadari remained paralysed today with thousands of vehicles proceeding to the Godavari pushkar ghats from Hyderabad being stranded on Saturday.

With consecutive holidays on Saturday (on account of Eid-Ul-Fitr) and Sunday, pilgrims headed towards Kaleswaram and Dharmapuri in the Karimnagar district in large numbers to have a dip in the pushkar ghats there.

With the resultant unprecedented number of vehicles plying on the roads, traffic towards Karimnagar was just inching, with vehicles lined up for three kilometres at the Toopran checkpost in the Medak district. Exasperated pilgrims were seen lashing out at the toll gate staff for the interminable delay.

Similarly, vehicular traffic remained stranded on the National Highway No. 44 with a huge number of vehicles from Hyderabad headed for the Nizamabad, Adilabad, Karimnagar and Warangal districts. The pilgrims had started leaving for pushkar ghats in the north Telangana districts since the early hours, and the Toopran Toll Gate officials said that the traffic on the national highway had increased from 1,000 to 3,000 due to the pushkaralu. The local police were making Herculean efforts to control the traffic. On the Choppadandi-Dharmapuri road, vehicles were moving at a snail's pace.

In the Warangal district, too, vehicles proceeding towards the Mangapeta pushkar ghat remained stranded in traffic snarls extending to several kilometres. And the Ranga Reddy district also saw traffic jams extending to several kilometers at the Medchal and Kompally areas.