Panthangi toll plaza sees massive congestion ahead of Pongal and Sankranti

With Sankranti just days away, Hyderabad witnessed massive traffic congestion at toll plazas and railway stations. The Panthangi Toll Plaza at Choutuppal, the first major stop on NH-65 towards Vijayawada, saw over one lakh vehicles on Saturday, with numbers expected to rise further.

Hyderabad: With just a few days left for Sankranti festival, for the second consecutive day, the Panthangi toll plaza at Choutuppal, which is the first major toll plaza on the route to Vijayawada from Hyderabad on NH-65, faced a massive surge in traffic.

An estimated one lakh vehicles crossed Choutuppal toll plaza on Saturday, January 10 and are expected to further increase in the upcoming days. A similar rush was witnessed at the remaining three ORR toll plazas.

---

The personnel at toll plaza and police jointly handled the rush in vehicle movement through separate lanes, while HGCL (Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited), which manages ORR, operated booster barriers and cleared the traffic.

The Panthangi toll plaza witnessed heavy rush of Sankranti traffic from the wee hours of Sunday. Heavy traffic persisted into the late hours of Saturday, with vehicles crawling at a snail’s pace in bumper-to-bumper congestion. Vehicles remained stuck in traffic jams for at least two to four hours at all toll plazas around Hyderabad.

The slow traffic movement is expected to continue in the coming days. “We are ensuring that traffic flows in a smooth manner, despite waiting hours together,” an HGCL official told Telangana Today.

In the span of two days, around 2 lakh vehicles crossed three ORR Toll plazas including Shamshabad, Bonglur and Pedda Amberpet.

Meanwhile, railway stations in the city also experienced heavy passenger rush from early hours of Sunday. All the platforms were packed with passengers and Reserve Police Force (RPF) personnel managed crowds in Secunderabad Railway Station and Kacheguda Railway Station.