A twelve-year-old girl strategically took advantage of the complimentary travel provision for women on Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) buses, initiating a protracted 33-hour journey to elude the prospect of returning to her hostel. This unfolding narrative reached its culmination when law enforcement located her at the Jubilee Bus Station in Hyderabad, thereby concluding an anxiety-laden search that entailed the concerted efforts of both her parents and police units.
The protagonist of this tale, an eighth-grade student residing in Vidyaranyapuri, attending a private school with boarding facilities, had spent her Christmas holidays at her grandmother's residence in Peddapalli. Faced with a reluctance to resume hostel life, her actions set in motion a chain of events spanning 33 hours, inadvertently facilitated by the government's policy providing complimentary travel for women.
In the company of her grandfather, she boarded a bus at 11 am on a Thursday from Karimnagar. Instead of reaching her father, who eagerly awaited her at Mancherial chowk, she disembarked from the bus on the outskirts of Karimnagar. Choosing an autorickshaw to the Karimnagar bus stand, she continued her journey by boarding a bus destined for Hyderabad.
Apprehensive about her absence, her father, K Narsimham, sought information from the conductor, only to discover that she had alighted from the bus on the outskirts of Karimanagar. Commencing a search operation, Narsimham, in collaboration with the police, utilized CCTV footage and social media platforms to trace the whereabouts of his daughter.
Abhilash from Karimanagar district recognized the girl from social media posts and promptly alerted the police about her travels from Hyderabad to Gangadhara mandal in Karimanagar district. Disclosing her purported destination as Jagtial, the police deployed teams to various bus stands. A team stationed in Hyderabad successfully located her disembarking from a Nizamabad-bound bus at 1 am on Friday.
Following a thorough health examination, the girl was joyfully reunited with her family, marking the end of this captivating journey fraught with twists and turns.
