otherwise kolkata would have come to a standstill said asenior police officer app cab fares were high too especially in the evening when more rallies were taken out i had planned to pick a friend from her home at sinthee and then head to mani square mall to watch a movie and have dinner we ensured that the rallies travelled through lanes and alleys for most part of the journey i asked the friend to walk towards chidia more as i picked her up from there since it was a sunday there was less crowd on the streets during the morning peak hours as a result traffic movement in the city was slow throughout the day we again got stuck at the shyambazar crossing with roads chocked people had no other option but to opt for metro when the rallies reached major crossings like moulali sealdah and esplanade some traffic congestion happened but we didnt allow vehicles to pile up for long said sumit kumar deputy commissioner traffic of kolkata police kolkata cops however said they diverted most of the rallies through alleys and lanes to ensure the main thoroughfares remained free since morning rallyists started hitting the streets at behala garia jadavpur tollygunge haridevpur gariahat and ballygunge in south and dum dum park manicktala salt lake bagbazar shyambazar sinthee and kankurgachi in the north apart from devotees ram navami celebrations have become a hit among political parties in bengal too while bjp and rss supporters took out a number of rallies the ruling trinamool congress also joined the show with its leaders trying to tap hindu sentiments ahead of the panchayat polls those who had plans to go shopping in the first weekend of chaitra sale or catch a movie had a tough time but i got stuck on bt road for about 40 minutes because of a rally a metro official said that the footfall was more than the average sundays all roads from south to north and east to west were chocabloc with supporters of both bjp and trinamool congress taking out rallies we had no option but to cancel the plan said subhajit mukherjee a resident of girish park in the east rallies were taken out at topsia tiljala and kasba and in the western part of the city processions hit the streets at kidderpore garden reach and bnr areas the city witnessed 62 ram navami rallies on sunday of which 34 started after 3pm and continued till late at night hitting traffic movement and sunday plans of the kolkatans