The newly-launched free bus service for women has given a boost to pilgrim tourism across Telangana. On December 10, RTC witnessed packed buses with women passengers heading to various shrines in the state.
“Due to the Mahalakshmi scheme, women occupancy ratio has been increased from 30% to 70%,” a TSRTC depot manager said.
The TSRTC on December 10 ran a total of 178 trips between Yadadri and Hyderabad. “We saw 80% occupancy in each bus today. On normal days, only 35 to 40% occupancy is witnessed,” said D Srinivas, depot manager, Yadagirigutta.
Budding managers of IIML visited temples in Lucknow as part of a destination marketing course. They will write about the USP’s of each religious site and suggest ideas to make them more attractive as tourist destinations. The students found the temple trail to be an enriching experience, appreciating the significance of the places and their potential in a pilgrimage circuit.
An official from Yadadri temple said the shrine has been packed with women devotees. “A total of 1,594 vrathams have been performed at Yadadri, and the temple generated INR 1 crore on the day,” according to an official of Yadadri temple.
V Anupama, a resident of Vengalrao Nagar, visited the hill shrine with a group of 50 women in her colony. “As the auspicious ‘Karthika Masam’ will be concluded in a couple of days, we visited Yadadri to perform ‘vrathams’,” she said.
“We have seen a huge rush in Palle Velugu buses, and even Express buses bound for Seetha Ramachandra Swamy temple at Bhadrachalam,” said G Suresh, depot manager, Bhadrachalam. Among the shrines which saw huge rush of pilgrims are Bhadrakali temple in Warangal, Ramappa Temple at Palampet, and Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy temple at Vemulawada.
