Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
Due to the continuous Diwali holidays, a large crowd of domestic and foreign tourists gathered at the world heritage Ajanta Caves on Saturday. Thousands of visitors toured the caves throughout the day. However, because of an insufficient number of buses, many tourists had to wait for two to three hours for transportation in long queues.
In the morning, there were fewer Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) buses operating, forcing tourists to stand in long queues in the rain, waiting for their turn. Children and elderly visitors suffered the most due to the delay and weather conditions. As the number of tourists increased during the Diwali holidays, the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) parking lot became completely full. The Tourist Visitor Centre (TVC) parking was then opened, but it too filled up quickly. Eventually, tourists had to park their vehicles along both sides of the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar–Jalgaon highway and walk to the caves.
Despite the rainfall, tourists’ enthusiasm remained high. According to the administration, thousands of tourists visited Ajanta Caves during the day. The rush of tourists has been seen at this site for the past couple of days.
Considering the heavy crowd, 19 additional MSRTC buses were called in during the afternoon—17 from Soyegaon depot and 2 from Sillod depot. However, one bus broke down due to a technical issue.