CHENNAI: Owing to the Panguni full moon festival and the ensuing long weekend for Tamil New Year, a large number of passengers travelled from Chennai to Tiruvannamalai in government buses.

According to Daily Thanthi reports, heavy crowds thronged Koyambedu, Madhavaram, Adyar, and CMBT bus terminals as devotees headed to Tiruvannamalai.

Transport officials said that over 52,000 passengers travelled from Chennai to Tiruvannamalai in just two days over the weekend.

With panguni full moon festival falling around the same time, thousands of devotees flocked to the temple town on Tamil new year.

To accommodate the surge in passengers, the state transport department operated 504 special buses in addition to its regular fleet of 244 buses from major bus terminals like Koyambedu, CMBT, Madhavaram, and Adyar.

The SETC also ran 35 special buses from CMBT, while the MTC operated 82 additional buses from the same terminal along with 12 buses from Madhavaram.

A total of 877 buses transported 52,615 passengers over the weekend.