Around 10,000 residents of Gaurishankar Nagar and its neighbourhood are up in arms over the AG's (accountant general) office in Doranda for having blocked access to a road that connects the area with South Office Para Road.

On Monday, around 200 people, protested outside the gates of AG Colony, where former government employees stay, to voice their displeasure at the AG office's decision to close one of the gates. They wanted the gate to be opened so that residents, many of them of the colony, could have access to Office Para Road and beyond.

The AG's office issued a notice on Friday stating that the north-west gate would remain closed from 11am to 4pm and again from 10pm to 6am next morning as per a directive of Ranchi SDM.

"People have been living in this colony and its neighbourhood since 1975. We have been using the road passing through AG Colony to reach South Office Para ever since. In 2013 the AG's office had also abruptly restricted access," claimed Shrikant Singh, a retired audit officer.

AG Colony has two other gates in the eastern and southern part of the colony.

There is, however, another road that connects the affected area with South Office Para, but residents pointed out that it was too narrow.

Ironically, many of those affected by the AG office decision are former employees of the same office.

"We have been landlocked. In case of an emergency, neither an ambulance nor a fire fighting vehicle can reach us," said S.D. Rai, a former AG official who is now president of Citizen Welfare Society.

Homemaker Kalpana Singh, whose children study in a private school, said they had been severely inconvenienced. "The school bus used to come using the road through AG Colony. Now it can't. Hence, my children are forced to walk more than 2km to board the bus," she said.

Manish Kumar (10), a Class IV boy who goes to a government middle school within the AG Colony, said he was able to scale the 15-feet iron gate to save himself a long detour on days the security guard was absent. Gaurav Kumar of the AG's office refused to comment. "The matter is pending before the SDM and we are awaiting his decision. All I can say is that the approach road where restrictions have been imposed for outsiders is under the jurisdiction of the AG," he said.

But, Ranchi SDM blamed the AG's office for the trouble saying he had warned officials about imposing curbs during the day as local residents had been using the road for ages. He, however, agreed that night curbs could be imposed. "I had held a meeting with AG officials and local residents. I suggested deploying security guards since the AG's office expressed concern about trespassing, but that was not heeded," he said.