At the Parade Ground, despite CPM state Secretary Biman Bose’s order, party workers were seen cooking in open ovens. They also littered the Maidan — the city’s only green patch — as heaps of rubbish were seen accumulated at several spots.

“I ask our comrades not to cook in the ground or litter the place. Keep the field intact and clean,” senior CPM leader Rabin Deb was seen announcing from the stage on a numerous occasions.

Since morning, lakhs of CPM workers and supporters poured in from various districts in buses, trucks and other vehicles.

At a number of spots in the Maidan, workers were seen cooking rice, chapati, dal, chicken and vegetables.

When asked why they were cooking in the Maidan, a worker said: “What can we do? Many people have come from far away places and are hungry. Buying food for so many is a costly affair. So, we are cooking. We are not littering the place.”

The traffic scenario was, meanwhile, a nightmare for the commuters. The inflow of traffic towards the Milan Mela ground at the Science City junction for Kolkata Book Fair’s closing day, further threw traffic out of gear. The thoroughfares were clogged and rows of vehicles with red flags, openly violated traffic norms.

According to traffic police officers, roads leading to the Parade Ground, such as S N Banerjee Road, Lenin Sarani, A P C Roy Road, Brabourne Road, Mayo Road, Red Road, Cathedral Road, Lovers Lane, Queensway, J L Nehru Road, Central Avenue and Dufferin Road were completely choked. With Hospital Road and Queensway blocked, all north-bound vehicles found it hard to take the Red Road. All south-bound vehicles were diverted to Outram Road from these two roads.

Only the Metro Rail, which opened its doors five hours earlier on Sunday, provided some relief to the commuters. The Metro opened at 11 am and in the first two hours, a footfall of 45,000 was recorded.

By 4 pm, 98,622 passengers have availed the service.