Patna, Nov. 17: The closure of the gate at R-Block for an overbridge construction near Meethapur and the experimental traffic diversion plan of police today left commuters stranded near the Income Tax roundabout for hours.

Patients silently suffered in stranded ambulances — one of them crawled near the roundabout for four hours. Office-goers frowned switching the ignition of their vehicles on and off. Students sweated inside school buses.

All Secretariat-bound vehicles from Patna Junction turned left from the Income Tax roundabout and jostled for space on Beer Chand Patel Path because of the closure of the gate near R-Block. So did the vehicles plying between the Dakbungalow crossing and Hartali More because of the traffic diversion introduced today. The Dakbungalow crossing-bound vehicles from Hartali More also had to turn right from the Income Tax roundabout and take Beer Chand Patel Path, courtesy the police experiment.

Much before the peak hours, the R-Block-bound flank of Beer Chand Patel Path was chock-a-block with vehicles. The queue of vehicles spiralled with each passing minute. The bumper-to-bumper traffic near the Income Tax roundabout compelled the police to rollback their diversion diktat.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Alok Kumar admitted that the experiment was a failure. “We did an experiment to ease the traffic but it failed. I have ordered to restore the traffic movement as earlier,” Kumar told The Telegraph.

By the time the SSP announced to go back to the old traffic movement format, thousands cursed the administration.

Baidnath Kumar, a resident of Patliputra, got stuck in the traffic for almost two hours while travelling from Hartali More to the Dakbungalow roundabout. A visibly disturbed Baidnath said: “I do not understand the logic behind this traffic diversion. Why people will have to travel so long to reach the Dakbunglow roundabout. Taking a turn from the Income Tax roundabout makes no sense when one can drive straight. The police introduced the diversion unnecessarily.”

Arnab Kumar, a resident of Sri Krishna Puri, said: “The root of the congestion is the closure of the gate near the R-Block. The administration should keep it open in the day and carry out the construction work at night.”

The gate at R-Block is closed for the past four days because of the construction work of a road overbridge. A large signboard heralds its closure.

Road construction secretary Pratyaya Amrit said the gate would be reopened in March 2012.

Besides the gate closure at R-Block, Arnab frowned at the diversions near the Income Tax roundabout. He said: “The diversions between the Dakbungalow roundabout and Hartali More are absurd. It took me more than an hour to reach Patna Women’s College from Hartali More.”

When district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Singh learnt about the plight of the commuters, he told The Telegraph: “We made the traffic diversion under a new experiment. But it seemed to be not working. I will ask the SSP to rollback the decision and follow the old routes.” (The DM made the comment before the rollback decision)

Singh added: “The only way to ease the traffic congestion is traffic signals at every roundabout. For, it is not possible to deploy traffic police at all the four sides of a roundabout.”

Till the signals blink, you and I will have to live with congestion and a few experiments of traffic police on the city streets.