Free Toll For All @ Sankranthi: Telangana Govt Masterstroke?

It is an established fact that the Sankranti season annually warrants an insane amount of traffic outflow from Hyderabad city. This is primarily due to the fact that the settler population in the city prefer to travel to their home towns in Andhra Pradesh and other states for the festival season. 

In this context, something interesting is being established now as Telangana government is on course to strike a masterstroke by permitting free toll road travel for all. 

Telangana Cabinet Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy has written to Union RB Minister Nithin Gadkari asking for permission to allow free toll road travel for all public during the Sankranthi season. 

Sankranti is the biggest festival of the Telugu states, leading to heavy inter-state travel. I request your kind consideration to permit toll-free movement on NH-65 (Hyderabad–Vijayawada corridor) from 9th to 18th January 2026, in the public interest, to ensure smooth and safe travel for lakhs of citizens, he tweeted a short while back. 

This toll road is not just an additional financial burden but also a major time drain, as heavy traffic often leads to hours of waiting at the toll plaza.

If the Telangana government can organize free travel and reduce both the financial burden and travel time, it would be well received by the settler population. If implemented successfully, this move could work in favor of the Congress party.