Hyderabad: Kongara Kalan on the city outskirts turned into a sea of humanity with lakhs of people thronging the venue of the TRS public meeting. Thousands of RTC buses, private buses, tractors and two-wheelers vended their way to the venue from all the 31 districts.
Though the TRS aimed to mobilise 25 lakh people for the meeting, hectic farming due to the recent rains and full-level reservoirs kept farmers and villagers busy, and they could not turn up in large numbers.
All the highways witnessed huge traffic jams due to which people travelling in thousands of vehicles could not make it to the meeting. Thousands of vehicles got stuck at toll plazas, bypass roads and the ORR.
Over 7,500 RTC buses were hired for the meeting. Besides, 25,000 tractors, 25,000 private buses, 10,000 DCMs and 20,000 cars, jeeps and other SUVs and 10,000 autos from surrounding districts were arranged to transport people.
Passengers at RTC bus stations faced several hardships with the cancellation of regular services for the TRS meeting. They were seen protesting and arguing with RTC officials.
The vehicles continued to reach the venue even after the meeting ended at 7.30 pm.
People who were mobilised for the meeting expressed anger at the TRS leaders for failing to reach them to the venue though they started out early in the morning.
The delay was also attributed to delay in arranging buses and other transport vehicles at the last minute by TRS leaders in a few districts.
There was confrontation between managements of private schools/ colleges and TRS leaders over giving their buses at the last minute.
The lack of coordination among TRS leaders and cadre also led to the poor turnout from some districts.
This resulted in buses carrying just 10 persons leaving more than half of the buses empty.
