Bhubaneswar, Dec. 4: Traffic came to a standstill for nearly two hours at three busy junctions - Master Canteen Square, outside Kesari Talkies and the Rama Devi Women's University - today, thanks to rallies taken out by various groups of protestors.

Around 2,000 computer teachers seeking regularisation of their jobs sat on the street at the busy Master Canteen Square blocking traffic movement on the Janpath and between the railway station and Lower PMG.

This is the third time in the past two weeks that the intersection witnessed chaos due to agitations. On November 23 and November 26, the junction had faced similar traffic disruptions over protests staged by a few organisations.

Unlike the previous occasions where the protesters took out rallies, today the demonstrators of the Odisha State School Coordinator's Association sat on the main road causing chaos and commotion.

The role of the police has, however, been questioned by commuters, who had to bear the brunt of the agitation.

"Despite the presence of a large number of policemen, they did not try to prevent the protestors from blocking traffic at such a busy junction," said Sudhakar Sahoo, a senior citizen who was on his way to Sishu Bhavan.

"I was supposed to board my train at 2.25pm. Though I reached Sriya Square around 15 minutes before departure time, not a single auto-rickshaw was available. I had to walk down the stretch, but the train had left by the time I reached the station," said Rashmi Samal, who was on his way to Secunderabad.

The situation became all the more critical after commuters, who were stranded hear the Master Canteen Square, tried to take lanes and by-lanes to reach their destinations. Vehicles were seen driving on the wrong side.

"This is a disturbing trend. During Assembly sessions, we normally find demonstrators walking past the roundabout. The commuters thought that the logjam would be over in a while and they kept waiting. But the protestors had other plans as they staged sit-in on the busy road causing inconvenience to commuters," said an office-goer.

Commuters also accused the police of being lenient with the agitators who disrupted traffic on one of the major roads in the city.

"The police should have immediately asked them to leave the road. Why should the commuters suffer due to unlawful activities of the agitators?" said Mohan Muduli, a commuter.

"We have taken the matter seriously and stringent action will be initiated against the protestors blocking the traffic at the roundabout. Today we have arrested more than 500 agitators," said deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi.

The police also had a tough time regulating traffic at the Sachivalaya Marg where the BJP Mahila Morcha blocked the road for nearly an hour to protest against the farmers' suicides in the state.

Normalcy was restored after the cops took nearly 1,000 BJP workers, mostly women, into custody.

Outside the Rama Devi Women's University, students blocked traffic to protest against their "illegal detention" by the city police prior to the visit of chief minister Naveen Patnaik to their campus yesterday.