123Pune.com

PUNE: Vehicular traffic on the otherwise busy Pune-Mumbai expressway continued to be subdued for the second consecutive day on Friday due to the
terror crisis in Mumbai.

While flights between Pune and Mumbai remained unaffected, passengers travelling by trains and buses had reduced significantly.

The vehicular movement on the expressway had reduced to just one third since Wednesday night. And the e-way had an almost deserted look on Thursday.

On Friday, the staffers at the Urse toll plaza near Talegaon said that the traffic flow had increased marginally, but it was just 40 to 50 per cent of the normal traffic. "Movement of vehicles in either directions has reduced significantly,'' a staffers said.

Most people have deferred their plans to go to Mumbai. Suresh Pandit, who hails from Sangameshwar, was scheduled to meet his relatives in Pune and then proceed to Mumbai. But he has cancelled the trip to Mumbai.

Thought the Pune-Mumbai flight service remained unaffected, the security remained tight at the Pune airport. Almost all the flights were running as per scheduled, barring the odd operational delay.

"Most flights are on time. There has been no cancellation or major delay so far," said an Airports Authority of India (AAI) official, adding that the (passenger) loads were a little less than usual.

An official of the Kingfisher airliner, which operates an early morning flight to Mumbai, reiterated that terror strikes in Mumbai had no impact on the airline's schedule. Similarly, an official of the Jet Airways, which operates one flight each in the morning and evening, said that they were operating with the usual load'.

Y K Singh, public relation officer, Central Railway, Pune railway division, told TOI, "All the trains between Pune-Mumbai were running as per scheduled. However, there has been a reduction in the number of commuters. The long-distance trains are also running on time."

V S Bhalerao, controller at the Maharashtra State Road Transport corporation (MSRTC) bus station, said that the Volvo and Asiad services between Pune- Dadar are running on time. But there has been a 30 per cent drop in the number of passengers. The private bus operators have also reduced the number of trips.

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