The affected thoroughfares were S N Banerjee Road, Jawaharlal Nehru Road and Rani Rashmoni Avenue. The meeting started at 2.30 pm and continued till evening. Sanjay Bhattacharya, a commuter, said he was stranded on SN Banerjee road for hours today as well as yesterday. “Traffic disruption is a regular affair now. Residents can put up with it for a day but not again and again,” he complained.

In fact, there has been a traffic disruption nearly every day this week. On Monday, the bandh called by Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) and other Opposition parties prevented people from venturing out. There were protests on Tuesday as well. The intellectuals and artistes’ rally brought city traffic to a standstill on Wednesday. Thursday’s rally by pro-CPM intellectuals led to chaos on the streets.