Chennai, Nov 3 (PTI) The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday announced it will operate over 14,000 special buses for the Deepavali festival.

Ahead of the festival, the Tamil Nadu state transport department has made arrangements to operate about 9,510 buses from Chennai in addition to 5,247 specials from the districts for a total of 14,757 buses from November 11 to 13.

Also Read | Huawei Nova 8 SE Launch on November 5, 2020; Expected Prices, Features, Variants & Specifications.

Post the festival of lights, the department has made arrangements to operate 16,026 specials from November 15 to 18.

State Transport Minister M R Vijayabhaskar told reporters here that as in previous years, buses will be operated from five places in Chennai.

Also Read | India’s Exports Dip 5.4% to USD 24.82 Billion in October 2020 Due to Fall in Shipments: Govt Data.

A total of 13 booking counters have been set up for the occasion, the minister added.

Booking can be done through websites including www.tnstc.in, tnstc official app, www.redbus.in, www.paytm.com, www.busindia.com.

"Already, 27,000 people have made bookings for the specials in advance this time. We expect over five lakh people to travel during this festival season," Vijayabaskar said.

As a result of several firms, especially IT companies resorting to work from home culture, and with several educational institutions facing extended closure due to lockdown, the department has decided to operate 14,757 specials for the Deepavali festival this year as against the 18,547 in 2019, the minister added.

Last year about 6.70 lakh people had availed the services.

Vijayabhaskar, who earlier held a meeting with senior transport officials including Principal Secretary Dharmendra Pratap Yadav, said the department had also made arrangements to operate 16,026 buses to enable the people return to Chennai and other places within the state for four days.PTI JSP SS

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)