Transport hit hard in Kurnool, Mahbubnagar

HYDERABAD: Though the situation is improving with the flood water receding slowly in Kurnool and Mahbubnagar districts, road transport services
continue to be hit hard for the second consecutive day as the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) buses along with private buses did not operate. Several stretches were damaged on the NH-7 section due to heavy flooding in the two districts.

According to Ravindra Babu, regional director, APSRTC, Ranga Reddy division, the APSRTC had to cancel all the buses for the second day. It runs 230 buses per day on the NH-7 sector to various places like Kurnool, Kadapa, Chittoor etc. The Hyderabad-Srisailam road is still not open for traffic due to the breaches on the NH-7 route that had led to cancellation of the buses for the second day, said Ravindra Babu.

However, the APSRTC is running buses from alternative routes. "We are presently operating Volvo and super luxury buses in the Bangalore and Macherla sector," he said. He added that super luxury buses are being run on alternative routes like Bangalore, Macherla, Maidukur, Kadapa and Volvo services at Ongole, Nellore and Tirupati.

Roads, including the national and state highways also got damaged due to the floods, which overflowed on to the roads. Already several breaches appeared on the NH-7 on the Kurnool sector. The officials have identified 70 to 80 breaches in the Kurnool sector, said chief engineer R&B K Shiva Reddy. He said that Old bridge between Eeija and Emmiganoor got washed away due to the heavy floods. Roads also got damaged near Handri river. On the NH-63, breaches were noticed in the Gutti, Guntakal, Bellary sections.

Shiva Reddy said that the department could not estimate the total loss as of now because there is water on the roads. "It would take three to four days after the water recedes on the roads. The machinery has been alerted to take measures as soon that happens," he said.

Traffic on the Raichur and Makhtal road was hit as flood water overflowed on to the roads from the Magnoor bridge. There was a huge traffic jam stretching to five kilometres in the sector.