Kolkata: Despite the swell of party supporters reaching the city to attend the Trinamool Congress’ annual Martyrs’ Day rally, cops managed to stick to the Calcutta High Court directive and keep traffic moving smoothly between 9 am and 11 am in the heart of the city.Major city thoroughfares leading to the city centre, like JL Nehru Road, Asutosh Mukherjee Road, SP Mukherjee Road, Red Road, Hospital Road, Park Street, Shakespeare Sarani, AJC Bose Road and Old Court House Street had free-flowing traffic. Traffic also moved freely on CR Avenue till Chandni Chowk and on roads like BB Ganguly Street, GC Avenue, and other stretches till 11 am. A handful of public buses carrying office-going commuters further helped in reducing the chaos.As TOI crisscrossed the city, it found only Strand Road — where large vehicles carrying supporters were being parked since early morning — had slow-moving traffic. Even with traffic movement disallowed on Esplanade East Road and the portion of CR Avenue and Chowringhee Road between Chandni Chowk and CR Avenue, there was no major snarls in the city centre.A lawyer who drove to the high court from Dum Dum said his travel time was unaffected. “It took the same time as other days. I saw some procession vehicles on Central Avenue, but it didn’t block my way,” he said. Another lawyer who travelled from Beckbagan mostly had a smooth commute but noticed a crowd building around 10.15 am near the high court, which again didn’t block his way.Another lawyer, who commutes from Uttarpara, reported delays before reaching Howrah bridge. “It usually takes 45 minutes. Today it took almost two hours,” he said, questioning whether the court’s order was fully implemented.Many said while vehicles were moving through most of central Kolkata during the restricted hours, areas around GPO, Fairlie Place and BBD Bag experienced slowdowns. Buses from districts were parked along the curbs, narrowing roads and slowing down traffic on APC Road. Supporters also squatted on pavements and sometimes on the streets, eating and resting.At certain points, Trinamool supporters were seen marching on key roads despite restrictions. A group walked along Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Road during the restricted window, forcing police to divert vehicles from Rashbehari crossing. On Howrah bridge, a slow-moving march towards Esplanade disrupted flow intermittently.“We didn’t allow any rallies to start from Sealdah, Esplanade, and other areas before 11 am. As a result, we were able to keep the heart of the city moving. We admit there was a partial slowdown at places, but largely there were not many complaints,” said a senior officer of Kolkata Police.
