For the first time in 2 years, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation will be launching festival-special buses for Ashadi Ekadashi celebrations in the state. As per reports, the MSRTC has lined up the operations of 4,700 buses to ease travel for lakhs of devotees or ‘warkaris’ travelling Pandharpur for the festival between July 6 and 14. Of these, around 500 will run from Mumbai only; check others here:
To cater to increased festive-load
The MSRTC notably schedules special buses on the occasion of Ashadi Ekadashi every year. However, the practice was discontinued with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Since the situation is now under control, the transport department has resumed services to Pandharpur:
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12,000 buses from Aurangabad
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12,000 buses from Pune
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1,000 from Nashik,
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700 from Amaravati,
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500 from Mumbai
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100 from Nagpur region.
Along with this, about 200 additional buses for the ‘Ringan’ ceremony at Wakhri, about 5 km from Pandharpur will also be scheduled.
