Sankranti Return Journey Becomes Costly!

As festival travel rush continues at RTC bus stations and railway terminals, private travel operators are exploiting passengers by charging exorbitant ticket fares. Taking advantage of the Sankranti holiday season, several private bus operators have increased fares by two to three times. Despite repeated inspections and raids by transport department officials, excessive pricing continues unchecked. Thousands of residents working and running businesses in cities like Hyderabad and Bengaluru had returned to their native places for the festival and are now facing severe difficulties during their return journey.

Nellore Regional Transport Officer Mohammad Madani, along with Motor Vehicle Inspectors Balamurali Krishna, Raghuvardhan Reddy, and Karthik Reddy, conducted inspections for two consecutive days. On Sunday, cases were booked against 45 buses with penalties amounting to ₹4.50 lakh, while on Monday, 70 buses were fined ₹7 lakh. However, the violations persist. Due to limited RTC special buses, heavy congestion continues at bus stations and railway terminals. Shockingly, some private operators demanded as high as ₹5,000 for a single AC sleeper berth to Hyderabad, while fares to Hyderabad and Bengaluru ranged between ₹2,000 and ₹4,800.