Six special trains and a large number of buses are being run from different parts of Andhra Pradesh and also from the cities of Bengaluru and Chennai to Puttaparthi for the devotees of Sathya Sai Baba.
The railways and Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) have made special arrangements so that devotees can reach the pilgrim town in Anantapur district closr to the biorder with Karnataka to pay their last respects to the guru, who died on Sunday. Six trains will be operated on Monday and Tuesday from Secunderabad, Vijayawada and Bengaluru, an official said.
The South Central Railway (SCR) will run two special trains from Hyderabad to Puttaparthi. The special train will depart from Secunderabad at 5.30 p.m. On Monday and will reach Puttaparthi at 3.30 a.m. Tuesday. The special train will leave from Puttaparthi at 5 a.m. Tuesday and reach Kachiguda at 5.30 p.m. The same day. Another special train will depart from Kachiguda at 10 p.m. Tuesday and reach Puttaparthi at 7.30 a.m. Wednesday.
A special train from Vijayawada will leave at 4 00 p.m. Tuesday and will reach Puttaparthi at 4.30 a.m. The next day. APSRTC has also decided to run dozens of special buses from Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Guntur, Mahabubnagar, Tirupati, Kurnool, Kadapa, Chittoor, Anantapur, Bangalore and Chennai.