Ranchi: Key city roads remained choked on Monday, with several Durga Puja committees yet to remove bamboo welcome arches despite a two-day deadline set by the district administration and Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC).The structures, put up along key thoroughfares, have narrowed carriageways and slowed traffic at multiple points. In several areas, the arches have come down but the bamboo has not moved. Bundles of poles lie piled along the roadside, leaving commuters to negotiate the same bottlenecks the administration had sought to clear after Durga Puja.The directive had come from deputy commissioner Manjunath Bhajantri on Saturday. He had asked puja committees to dismantle the arches by the day of idol immersion and warned that nails, metal fragments and other debris left on roads were causing tyre punctures and posing a danger to motorists and pedestrians.RMC, too, ordered the removal of all unauthorised arches on major city routes. Municipal officials said such structures came under local advertising regulations, but no puja committee had sought or obtained permission before erecting them.Additional municipal commissioner Sanjay Kumar said the corporation had initially expected committees to comply voluntarily, but enforcement would follow if they failed to act. “The corporation will review the formal status report on Tuesday to evaluate adherence to the directive,” he said.Based on the report, RMC is expected to begin dismantling the remaining arches and initiate action against committees that have ignored the municipal order.The civic body also carried out an anti-encroachment drive near Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (Rims) on Monday morning, clearing pushcarts and unauthorised stalls that regularly constricted the road and delayed ambulances.The clearance brought temporary relief to commuters, but many urged RMC to maintain the stretch rather than conduct one-off drives. “I travel on this route daily and routinely face long traffic delays. The worst part is seeing ambulances get stuck,” said commuter Pankaj Gupta. “This drive was urgently needed, and I hope the vendors are not allowed to set up shop here again.”Residents said clearing the arches, removing the bamboo waste and keeping emergency routes free would require sustained monitoring — not just post-festival action.
