Saturday's human chain event was marked by an obvious lack of communication between police or officials deputed on city roads and senior administrative officials.

Officials manning the event were either ill-informed or were not clearly instructed by the administration about traffic restrictions and exemptions filed by the state government in Patna High Court on Friday. The government affidavit had assured hassle-free movement during the event.

The reality was starkly different as the 7.5km route from Sheikhpura Mor, near Patna airport, through Bailey Road to Gandhi Maidan, was out of bounds for vehicles. No vehicles, save ambulances, were allowed to ply from 10am to 3pm. The police stopped schoolbuses, media personnel and other officials in a clear breach of the high court's directive.

Traffic was allowed on the parallel lane for vehicles moving both to and fro.

A cop manning the Sheikhpura Mor crossing would not let this correspondent go to Gandhi Maidan from the airport. "You cannot go forward. Take the other lane," he said. He did not relent despite being informed that media personnel had been exempted by the court. Only when confronted further, did he call a senior officer and allow movement.

An officer deputed near Patna Zoo said: "We have instructions from the Patna district magistrate that no vehicles be permitted to ply on the human chain lane."

School buses were not spared either, as a bus from Baldwin Academy was stranded for over half an hour at the Income Tax roundabout because of a barricade put up by the district administration at the Kidwaipuri-Sri Krishna Nagar road.

A cop deployed at I-T Roundabout said: "We have been instructed to not let any vehicles pass." The bus was allowed to go when news reached Patna traffic superintendent of police Prantosh Kumar Das and he came to the spot to allow the barricade to be lifted.

Bottlenecks abounded. A lane on the flyover between Jagdeo Path and Sheikhpura was closed as also a side lane from Sheikhpura to Gandhi Maidan, leaving a single road available for those travelling from Dak Bungalow to Sheikhpura.

"I fail to understand what the government intends to achieve by organising this human chain," said Puneet Sinha, who was travelling to his Boring Road residence from the airport. "This will not encourage prohibition. Crime is on the rise and liquor trade has gone underground."

"The human chain will certainly make for a good photo opportunity, but beyond that I doubt what it will achieve," said an elderly man in a traffic jam at Raza Bazaar on his way to meet a relative admitted to Paras HNRI Hospital.

Auto-rickshaws and buses were stopped on main roads. Baby Devi and her 10-year-old daughter had to drag their luggage along Bailey Road to reach Patna Junction. Praveen Kumar, an advocate at Patna High Court, was stopped at a barricade near Biscomaun Tower. "I must appear in a case in the civil court," he told The Telegraph. "Police are stopping those trying to go for urgent work, despite orders from the high court. The police claim they don't know about the court order."