Mass Exodus: Deepavali Rush Overwhelms Chennai as Lakhs Head Home
Posted on: 11/Nov/2023 9:51:21 AM
Heavy Deepavali travel resulted in significant congestion around Koyambedu CMBT, with over 3.5 lakh passengers commuting in buses between Thursday and Friday. The transport department managed 2,734 buses on Thursday, accommodating 1.36 lakh passengers.
On Friday, 76,000 passengers with online bookings and 1.46 lakh future travelers caused further congestion. Private omni buses saw around one lakh passengers on Friday night. State transport corporations, including the State Express Transport Corporation, deployed 16,895 special buses from November 9 to 11, with plans for 13,292 buses from November 13 to 15 for post-festival travel. Transport Minister SS Sivasankar assured monitoring by senior officials at bus stands to oversee operations.
