Rally throws city traffic out of gear

A massive Trinamul Congress rally led by chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday afternoon brought traffic at central and north Kolkata to a grinding halt, while simultaneous disruptions on the Metro Railway compounded commuters’ woes.

The rally, organised to protest against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, began from the BR Ambedkar statue on Red Road and culminated at Jorasanko Thakurbari, a stretch of about five kilometres. Thousands of Trinamul supporters joined the procession, waving party flags, shouting slogans, and carrying colourful placards as they marched alongside Banerjee and Trinamul general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. The rally route and its adjoining areas — including SN Banerjee Road, Queens Avenue, Janbazar, Central Avenue, CR Avenue, AJC Bose Road, and Mallickbazar — remained choked for hours.

Advertisement

The congestion extended all the way up to Shyambazar in the north. Motorbike-borne supporters weaving through narrow lanes made matters worse for pedestrians and vehicles alike. Several office-goers and students found themselves stuck in traffic snarls lasting over an hour. The ruling party described the SIR exercise as a “silent, invisible rigging” by the BJP-led Centre and the Election Commission of India.

Traffic police deployed additional personnel at key intersections, but their efforts did little to ease the logjam. Commuters hoping to avoid the gridlock by switching to Metro services faced another blow. A technical snag between Rabindra Sadan and Netaji stations disrupted services for over 30 minutes in the afternoon. With traffic crawling on surface roads and Metro movement hampered, commuters endured one of the toughest weekday afternoons in recent memory.