Festive rush chokes Chennai as 15 lakh people leave city

CHENNAI: Over 15 lakh people have left Chennai over the past few days, travelling to various parts of Tamil Nadu and other states by train, government buses and private omni buses ahead of Deepavali on Monday. This includes a large number of guest workers heading home for both Deepavali and Chhath Puja, which will be celebrated between October 25 and 28. Around 97 trains departing from Chennai Central and 85 from Chennai Egmore and Tambaram together can accommodate approximately 3.75 lakh passengers per day. Sources said more than 11 lakh passengers are estimated to have travelled by train from Chennai over the past three days, including Friday. Government buses are estimated to have carried about 3.2 lakh passengers, while private omni buses transported around one lakh commuters on Thursday and Friday. As a result, trains departing from Tambaram and other stations were overcrowded. Additionally, several thousand people left the city by cars and two-wheelers. With light rain in parts of the city since Friday, key arterial roads including Poonamallee High Road, Inner Ring Road, OMR, Anna Salai, and GST Road witnessed massive traffic snarls. On Friday evening, government and omni buses heading towards Tiruchy from Koyambedu were diverted via Outer Ring Road (ORR) instead of Inner Ring Road and GST Road. However, when vehicles from ORR converged onto GST Road at Vandalur, traffic came to a standstill. Thousands of vehicles were stranded in a long pile-up stretching several kilometres from Guduvancheri to Pallavaram along the Tambaram-Tiruchy National Highway from 3 pm. Similarly, the southern and eastern parts of the city, including Rajiv Gandhi Salai, LB Road and ECR, also witnessed heavy congestion as a large number of motorists used these routes to reach Chengalpattu via Kelambakkam. Railway sources said, Trains departing from Chennai typically carry around 1,500 passengers per day, which rises to about 2,000 during festive seasons. A total of 182 trains from Chennai Central, Egmore and Tambaram together carried approximately 3.75 lakh passengers per day. Drives against ticketless and unauthorised travel have been intensified across all zones. In a statement, A Anbalagan, president of the All Omni Bus Owners Association, Tamil Nadu, said, A total of 47,610 people travelled on 1,383 omni buses on Thursday, and the number rose to 63,683 on Friday. Meanwhile, an official note from the the transport department said penalties amounting to `43.55 lakh have been collected from omni buses for various violations across the state since Thursday.