From cars crawling to cruising, the traffic movement on Gandhi Setu is set for a metamorphosis.

A team of senior officers of the state transport department, and Patna and Vaishali districts took stock of the traffic bottlenecks on the Gandhi Setu on Wednesday, a day after chief minister Nitish Kumar reprimanded them in a review meeting. They visited the trouble spots.

The team comprising the transport department’s principal secretary, R.K. Mahajan, districts magistrates and the superintendents of police of the two neighbouring districts spent more than an hour on the bridge to oversee the traffic flow from Patna and Vaishali sides.

Crossing the bridge across the Ganga, connecting north Bihar to the state capital, has of late turned into a nightmare for commuters. Often it takes more than three hours to cross the 5.575km bridge.

Sources said the chief minister asked the officers of the transport and the road construction departments to chalk out a detailed strategy to permanently get rid of the traffic congestion on the bridge. They would also suggest measures to improve the situation temporarily. The officers concerned have been asked to submit their report to the chief minister’s secretariat within 24 hours.

Mahajan, the principal secretary of the transport department, could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. “Sahib meeting mein hai (the officer is busy in meeting),” an employee of the transport department said before he hung up.

A senior police officer present at the review meeting said cops would be deployed on the bridge on a permanent basis. The movement of heavy vehicles would also be restricted to ease the problem. There was a suggestion to remove the road dividers at a few points to ensure smooth traffic flow if any vehicle developed technical snag on the bridge across the Ganga.

The officer, on the condition of anonymity, said the officers of the transport department were directed to impose heavy fine on vehicles violating the rules. There was a directive to expedite the bridge repair work. The Patna police officers were asked to intensify patrolling from Fatuha, around 20km from the Zero Mile (outskirts of Patna).

Inspector-general (Patna zone) S.M. Khopde said 60 constables and nine sub-inspectors would be deployed from Patna end to regulate the traffic on the bridge. Additional police forces drawn from several districts have been provided to Patna for the purpose, he added.

The IG said similar instructions had been issued to the police officers of Vaishali. Around 140 additional policemen would be deployed to regulate the traffic on the bridge, he said, adding that the traffic flow had increased in the wake of the ban on plying of vehicles on the railway bridge (Rajendra Setu) at Hathidah.

The Patna senior superintendent of police has been instructed to monitor the deployment of the additional police forces under his jurisdiction. He has also been asked to conduct surprise inspections to verify if the cops were performing their duty on the places of their deployment.