Tamil Nadu is in Diwali delight and millions of people are rushing to their hometowns to jump on the bandwagon to celebrate the festival of lights with their dear and near ones. Diwali will be celebrated on Sunday - November 12 and as a deluge of people has been moving out of Chennai, the outskirts of the city have been witnessing a typical traffic disruption. 

With the view of providing a hassle-free travel and to avoid one-window departure from the city, the state government has set up temporary bus stations in various areas of Chennai to connect several areas of the state. The bus stations have been set up in Tambaram, KK Nagar, Madhavaram, and Poonamallee besides Koyambedu and arrangements have been made to provide adequate bus services. 

The areas in downtown Chennai and the outskirts of the city like Tambaram and Perungalathur have been overwhelmed with vehicles, sparking a major traffic disruption. The state transport department has said that along with existing bus services, thousands of special government bus services have also been arranged and in total, over 10,000 buses are being operated from Chennai to several parts of Tamil Nadu. 

Sporadic rainfall in Chennai has also been significantly contributing to traffic disruption and besides government bus services, several people had also opted to travel in private omni buses from Koyambedu and Kilambakkam, near Vandalur. On Thursday- November 9, the private buses reported a good attendance as more commuters are plying in omni buses as festival nears. 

The private bus union has said that the tickets are being charged based on government regulations and that several teams have been formed to assist the commuters. On Thursday, around 1320 private buses were operated from Chennai and about 95 to 97 per cent of seats were filled and on Friday - November 10, the union said that they will operate 1650 private buses from Chennai. 

The Tamil Nadu government has already announced that Monday - November 13 will be a public holiday and to compensate that, the government staff and employees are directed to report to their offices on November 18. The government has also made special bus arrangements from across the state to Chennai after Diwali. In Chennai, a dozen of booking booths have been set up to book tickets. The private bus union has also said that about 40 per cent of tickets have been booked so far to return to Chennai after Diwali delight.