With the Pongal festival scheduled to be celebrated on January 15, the Tamil Nadu government is gearing up to operate special bus services to manage the heavy festive travel across the State.Every year, lakhs of people living in major cities such as Chennai and Coimbatore travel to their native places to celebrate Pongal with their families. This year too, the festive rush has begun early, with bus and train tickets already sold out, prompting the need for additional transport arrangements.
As part of the special operations plan, the government is preparing to run around 1,600 special buses to meet the surge in passenger demand. A high-level review meeting to finalise the arrangements is scheduled to be held on January 6. Officials are also considering hiring private buses, which could further increase the number of special services if required.
Special bus services are routinely operated during major festivals such as Pongal and Deepavali to ease travel congestion and reduce overcrowding at bus terminals.
Transport department officials are expected to focus on route planning, scheduling, and crowd management at key bus stands, besides ensuring close coordination with the police and district administrations. The combined deployment of special buses and trains is aimed at ensuring safe, smooth, and hassle-free travel for lakhs of passengers during the Pongal holidays.