Ranchi, April 1: Chaos ruled the streets of the capital following the introduction of the one-way traffic system on Circular Road on Saturday without proper planning.

From Circular Road, vehicles were allowed to go to Lalpur-Dangratoli-Kantatoli and beyond but reverse journey was prohibited.

Vehicles bound for Circular Road and beyond from Kantatoli had to take detours through Dangratoli-Mission Chowk on Purulia Road, Plaza Chowk and Jail More. From this point, one had to turn right to go to Lalpur and back to Dangratoli; and left to go to Kutchery and beyond.

As a ripple effect, key roads connecting Circular Road, Purulia Road and Kantatoli witnessed heavy congestion with ill-prepared traffic constables making matters worse.

A traffic constable got the goat of a septuagenarian man when he tried to prevent him from going straight to Landmark hotel from Lalpur. " Rok de dikhaiye. Yahin gadi khada kar ke jaenge hum. Ya toh aap parking ka vyvastha kijiye ya fir wahan jaane dijiye. Yeh kaun sa logic hai ki 50m ke duri ke liye hum 3km ghum ke jaye? (Stop me, if you can. I will park my vehicle right here. Either you make parking arrangements or let me go there. Is there any logic behind taking a detour of 3km to reach a place that is barely 50m from here)?" he said.

The chaos can be attributed to the inability of the authorities to make alternative arrangements to ease the traffic load on connecting lanes.

Plaza Chowk on the narrow HB Road was worst-hit with waiting time for traffic ranging from 30-40 minutes.

"The one-way system is always welcome. All big cities have it. But in Ranchi, you can't do it without extensive homework," said Sanjay Mahto, who had to take a detour of 2km to go to HDFC Bank on Circular Road from Lalpur.

Traffic DSP Dilip Xalxo said the higher authorities had been asked to rethink the plan. "The problem is with the city roads. Any change in movement pattern on one stretch leads to snarls in the city," he said.