Rush-hour traffic at Mangalabag and (below) a family comes out of a mall after shopping for Raja. Telegraph pictures

Cuttack, June 14: Priya Lenka (23) had a tough time today while negotiating the heavy traffic at Mangalabag, one of the major roads that acts as a life line for the commuters.

While last evening, the downpour spoiled her shopping for the Raja festival, this morning, heavy rush on the road acted as a spoilsport.

“Yesterday, I could not go for shopping for Raja owing to heavy downpour. Today, it took me around 15 minutes to travel from Ranihaat to Mangalabag which is a few metres away,” said Priya.

Often there is heavy rush on the stretch from Mangalabag to College Square via Ranihaat Square. Moreover, the ongoing work for a drain construction by the roads and building department has compounded the problems.

“The drain construction work has been going on for the past 10 days here. This is creating problem in the smooth flow of traffic as the construction materials are dumped on roadside,” said Shiba Mohanty (32), a local resident.

Apart from Mangalabag, there was an unprecedented rush on the occasion of Raja at Buxi Bazar, Dargha bazaar, College Square and Choudhry Bazar — the prime commercial centres in the city.

However, according to police, adequate steps have been taken to streamline traffic keeping in view the rush during the festival.

“Steps have been taken to regulate traffic at prominent places in the city. Similarly, additional manpower, including four traffic constables and one officer, have been deployed to regulate traffic at Mangalabag, which is the prime location in the city,” said deputy commissioner of police Praveen Kumar.

Kumar said measures were being taken to improve the traffic systems in the twin cities. “At present, there is no proposal for traffic diversion. However, keeping in view the situation, we may initiate measures for traffic diversion at major roads subsequently,” he said.

In another development, many local residents were also satisfied with the deployment of extra manpower at Mangalabag to regulate traffic on Raja, as usually a number of people celebrate the festival on streets with their friends and family members.

“Usually there is a rush on streets on the occasion of Raja. But, we did not face much problems while going out with family for shopping today as extra traffic constables had been deployed at many junctions to regulate the traffic movement,” said A.N. Behera (45), another local resident.