Patna, Dec. 6: The city came face to face with a crippling traffic situation today with almost all roads witnessing snaking snarls resulting from a political rally and visit of actor Aamir Khan.

Woes of commuters increased as the closure of the northern flank of the Chiraiyatand bridge left motorists confused for the second consecutive day.

The Miller School ground was packed with people and increasing numbers blocked the Beer Chand Patel Marg with chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and Nitish Kumar addressing people. The programme was organised by the JDU to mark the death anniversary of Bhim Rao Ambedkar.

'We had to close the R-Block gate as a result of the increasing crowd. But half of the Beer Chand Patel Marg and also the income-tax roundabout were clogged, causing heavy traffic,' a police officer said.

Sameer Kumar, a resident of Boring Road, waited for more than two hours to get an auto-rickshaw. 'No autorickshaws were ready to move towards the Income Tax roundabout as they knew that the whole road was blocked. I had to wait for long and then with no way out, I had to walk. It was only at the Dakbungalow Road that autorickshaws could be seen plying. The cold weather saved me or else would have been trouble for me,' Sameer, who had to go to the Patna Junction area, said.

At the Chiraiyatand bridge, confusions of the motorists continued for the second day with many facing problems in the alternative roads mainly due to wrong parking and haphazard driving.

'The Jamaal Road saw heavy traffic just due to one four wheeler which was parked in the wrong way. The narrow stretch got clogged as a result and it took me almost half an hour to cross that road. However, one good thing lied in the fact that the police today was very active and they were eagerly listening to the people's complaints and also telling people about the roads. I think that by now, all the people know about the bridge's closure and the confusions will be ending soon. But then traffic jams are just inevitable,' Tarun Kumar, another commuter, said.

The people living and moving towards the Kurji area were in for tough time too with the whole stretch of the road near the P&M Mall blocked by people wishing to see Aamir. With the road blocked, it had a cascading effect on many roads in Patliputra, Boring Road among others.

On the bridge closure chaos, traffic superintendent of police P.K. Das said things would settle down in a day or two.

'We have deployed around 25 policemen along the whole area and also on the alternative routes to ensure that people do not face many problems. However, it is a fact that people are facing some teething issues but we are sure that things will be controlled within one or two days,' he said.