Hyderabad Turns Quieter Ahead of Sankranti
Thousands leave the city for their hometowns; traffic eases across major areas
Hyderabad: Hyderabad saw a drastic decrease in traffic and public footfall on Monday, as thousands of residents left the city to celebrate Sankranti in their hometowns.
Areas around Tank Bund, Dilsukhnagar, Madhapur, Kukatpally, Gachibowli and Mehdipatnam saw very little traffic. The usual long lines of vehicles were missing, and commuters observed smooth and quick travel across the city. Even during peak hours, roads remained free to travel.
Parks, junctions and commercial areas had lower footfall of visitors than usual. Cinema theatres and multiplexes across the city reported lower footfall, despite new movies being released for the festive season.
The annual Numaish exhibition at the Exhibition Grounds also saw a smaller crowd than usual on Monday, with most of the crowd at the exhibition being local citizens.
Mohammed Sharif, a cloth trader in the exhibition, told Deccan Chronicle, “This is an annual thing at Numaish. For Sankranti, we expect more people to come and visit the exhibition but days before the festival, there are always fewer people. On the festival days, however, there’ll be more crowds.”
The city is expected to remain relatively quiet for the upcoming week, with normal activity likely to resume after Sankranti celebrations conclude and people return to Hyderabad.
