Congestion hits Papi tourists

 

The agents of launches booked more tickets than the available seats. With this, some 300 tourists were stranded at Pocharam boat point in VR Puram mandal. N. Raghu, a software professional from Bengaluru, said that their Papi Hills trip turned spoilsport due to the bad handling of the things by the private launch operators.

 

“We came to Pocharam to board the launch, but there was no launch. There was no food here and it is a tiny village,” he said. There is no chance of extending the trip for the next day because tickets to Bengaluru were booked for Wednesday,” he said.

 

Nearly four to five launches are being operated every day from Pocharam to Perantalapalli, a village in Velierpad mandal. Nearly 10 to 15 launches would be plied during holidays and many of the launch owners are from Rajahmundry. The tourists used to book the tickets from the agents in Bhadrachalam.

 

But, there was a mad rush during the Dasara holidays. Many pilgrims who visited Bhadrachalam temple booked for Papi Hills trip. The agents gave an assurance that more launches would be brought from Rajahmundry to meet the demand. However, they failed to do so because all the launches at Rajahmundry were engaged in the holidays for the Rajahmundry Perantalapalli trips.

 

R. Ramesh, an agent in Bhadrachalam, said that they booked the tickets after the assurance from launch owners. But, they failed in providing additional launches, he added.