Trinamool Congress supporters took to the roads in the early hours of Monday (July 21) morning, starting from various points across the city including Park Circus’s Zeeshan restaurant where hundreds gathered at around 9.30am en route to Dharmatala
With the High Court issuing strong instructions that traffic should not be halted or disrupted between 9am-11am, the Kolkata Traffic Police ensured traffic flowed smoothly from Ballygunge towards Park Circus seven-point crossing
Heading towards Sealdah from Park Street Area was among slowest moving routes with buses stacked up on either side of the road – creating a chock-a-bloc situation
Similar to the stretch from Park Street was this stretch on Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road, with the road becoming narrow to only allow a single file of cars
College Street was another road with slow traffic as buses parked on either side of the road left minimal space for cars and bikes
Nirmal Chandra Road, running parallel to Central Avenue, was congested as well, with several supporters, most dressed in blue shirts and white dhotis, marched with flags in hand. Stages created across town like the pictured were spots to receive information and act as water stations
While Park Street remained largely unaffected, Kyd Street didn’t have similar luck as scores marched together towards Esplanade
Esplanade crossing was quite the sight as cars came to a standstill with little wiggle room as the footfall far surpassed the vehicles. From the main road crossing opposite Maidan Market all the way to the Esplanade bus stand, people poured in in large numbers
Ganesh Chandra Avenue turned into a makeshift parking lot with cars having TMC flags parked all the way up to Hind Inox
Despite the masses on foot heading from the north towards Dharmatala, Central Avenue traffic was surprisingly smooth with cops at every 50 metres ensuring the road leading to the epicentre was not piling up with traffic
Central Avenue was barricaded on the northern side from the crossing of Ganesh Chandra Avenue and Central Avenue
Even Red Road became a pathway as TMC supporters marched towards the Dharmatala venue