Holi is here and people are getting homesick right about now. Those from other districts or States have either left for their hometowns are doing so now. After most of the educational institutions and offices closed last week before the festival of colours, railway stations and bus stands were thronged by students and employees.
With only a couple of days left for the festivities to begin, the Ranchi Railway Station and the Khadgarha bus stand, Ratu Road ITI bus stand and Government bus stand observed huge crowds of travellers on Monday.
On this day, long queues were seen in front of the ticket reservation counters at the Ranchi Railway Station. To tackle the Holi rush, additional coaches were given to the trains with longer waiting lists.
“We have a review meeting in which we formulate the measures to tackle the rush during festive season or other such situations. like always, this time too, we had to handle large crowds in trains bound to various destinations in Bihar, so we have given additional coaches to these trains. Hatia-Patna Express, Maurya Express, Patliputra Express and others,” informed Railway PRI Kalawanti.
No special trains were needed though, as sufficient trains were available to ferry the passengers. Arjun Mazumdar, Assistant Commercial Manager, South Eastern Railways, stated, “Most of the rush is in the trains for Bihar like Maurya, Patliputra and others, but no special trains were announced. All the regular trains are already having the maximum limit of coaches they can have, no more coaches can be added to them now. The Holi rush is there but we were expecting and prepared for even more crowds.”
Similar scenario was observed at the bus stands too. Packed buses were departing from bus stands every few minutes. The booking agents of various travelling agencies were so busy that they even waved away the reporter who asked them about the Holi rush in buses.
Gulaab, an agent who finally agreed to talk, stated, “This has been a busy week for us. There is a decline in the rush today as most have left already, but still, we have a lot on our hands.”