By Express News Service HYDERABAD: Roads in Hyderabad are generally perceived to be less congested during the weekend. However, at this time of the Pongal festival week when there is high demand for inter-State travel, most private buses are starting before the authorised time of 10 pm, leading to severe traffic jams. Private bus boarding points in the city have been witnessing severe traffic blocks for some time now. But this week, the problem has intensified due to Pongal rush. "All day long, especially on weekends, you can see private buses lined up on road. But the problem is severe this festival season. This is because very few traffic policemen are seen regulating the traffic," said a regular commuter, and resident of Attapur. "It takes 25-40 minutes just to pass along the 2-km stretch, near Rethibowli, Mehdipatnam during weekends," he said adding, "Traffic movement is even worse this Sankranthi season." "The road is wide enough, but these buses, shortly after 6 pm take over almost the entire road surface, which creates a bottleneck junction," a traffic police constable from Rethibowli said. "We are issuing traffic challans, but during the weekend, when there is not much traffic on the road, these buses take over," he added. "Private buses have at least 20 pick-up points across the city. Inter-state drivers are supposed to hit the road only after 10 pm. Most operators send pick-up vans (mini shuttle buses). But the most populated boarding points near Kukatpally, KPHB, Nizampet, Nampally, Tolichowki, Secunderabad, Paradise, Dilsukhnagar, Afzalgunj and Lakdi-ka-pul do not have pick-up vans," informs a travel agent on condition of anonymity. "During the weekend, bus operators revert to direct pick-ups causing traffic to choke, especially, when they take a U-turn," says Rahman Ahmed, a cab driver. In the first week of January, the Tolichowki traffic police station booked 37 cases on private bus operators for being on the road before 10 pm. "A total of 672 cases were booked at one location, near Rethibowli, which is the highest number of cases against private buses across the city," said Ch Shanker Reddy, station house officer of Tolichowki traffic police station.

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