Cuttack, Sept. 11: Mohit Arora, 29, a businessman, took over 30 minutes to travel from College Square to Ranihat Canal Road, which otherwise should have taken hardly five minutes.

Caught in a traffic jam, the entrepreneur from Delhi who had an important deadline to meet, decided to abandon the autorickshaw and walk down to Mangalabag.

“There is utter chaos on the road as all vehicles had converged at one particular point and no vehicle let the other move, leading to serious congestion,” said Arora.

Like Arora, many commuters in the city got stuck in the traffic jam for hours today at this busy junction.

Ranihat Canal Road is one of the busiest roads in the city as it is the converging point for vehicular traffic coming from Ranihat, Mangalabag, Malgodown, Professorpara, Jobra, College Square and Railway station.

Commuters often get stranded in traffic here because traffic constables are not deployed to regulate the rush, particularly during peak hours. A group of local youths tried to regulate the traffic today.

Sukant Behera, a local resident, said at least two ambulances and a school bus were also stuck in the jam from 10.30am to 11.30am today.

Later, officials of local Mangalabag police station rushed to the spot and took measures to clear the traffic jam. Traffic sources said traffic was diverted towards Ranihat from the Mangalabag traffic signal because of an eviction drive near SCB Medical College and Hospital.

Only after a detailed review of various traffic-related issues would steps be taken towards deployment of traffic constables, a senior traffic official said.