The Holi rush has started showing its colours - "no room" on important trains and exorbitant airfares.
The average fare of Rs 5,000 on the Delhi-Patna route has already gone as high as Rs 8,000 for the Holi week. The prices on the Mumbai-Patna route have soared from around Rs 9,000 on normal days to Rs 11,000 for February 3 to 5.
Travel and tour operators in the city claimed that the airfares on different sectors could shot up twice to thrice over the next 10 days because of the Holi rush. Bihar would celebrate the festival of colours on March 6.
"Most people want to celebrate Holi with their families. The maximum rush in the air traffic is being observed on the Delhi-Patna route. As of today (Wednesday), tickets on this route are available for around Rs 9,000. Usually, the fare surges up to Rs 15,000-18,000 in the week of Holi. The price of tickets on other routes also remain high in the same period," said Raman Jha, the manager of Super Travels.
Airlines corroborated the claim of rise in airfares. "We are getting bookings for over 150 passengers per flight per day on the Delhi-Patna route. The total number of seats in every flight is around 180. The resultant demand-supply gap is the reason behind the temporary surge in airfares," said a senior executive of GoAir at Jaya Prakash Narayan International Airport.
Post-Holi, airfare would be high for outbound flights. "The people who come home from Delhi would be heading back to the national capital after Holi, prompting an identical rush in planes and surge in the airfares," said a senior executive of IndiGo.
Railways has made elaborate arrangements to cope with the post-Holi rush following no-room in Delhi-bound important trains, including Rajdhani and Sampoorna Kranti Express, up to the first week of April. East Central Railway (ECR) would run a dozen Holi special trains - Patna-Delhi, Patna-Mumbai, Darbhanga-Delhi, Howrah-Patna, Amritsar-Samastipur, Mumbai-Jainagar and Saharsa-Ambala.
ECR chief public relations officer Arvind Kumar Rajak said: "Special trains are being run to clear the Holi and post-Holi rush. We shall also take all possible precautions to ensure safety of passengers."
Still, people who want to come to the city for Holi are finding it difficult to get confirmed tickets. "Despite the ECR's initiative to run Holi special trains, tickets are not available. My son wants to come to Patna during Holi, but no ticket is available till March 8," said Birendra Kumar, a resident of Boring Road. Birendra's son, Sumit Kumar, studies in Delhi University.
