A truck goes past Mamata Banerjee’s camp on Monday. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Singur, Sept. 1: Four trucks rolled through Singur under police protection this morning and the brief test run gave birth to hope that more could pass tomorrow, at least for a few hours, easing congestion on the highway blocked since last Sunday.

A final decision on whether to escort more trucks through Durgapur Expressway would be taken depending on the ground situation tomorrow.

As the trucks approached the siege site around 9am, the barricades set up eight days ago were removed. The four heavy trucks went through the deserted flank opposite Mamata Banerjee’s camp, escorted in front by two Tata Sumos of the National Highways Authority of India and followed by two police jeeps.

The decision to allow some of the stranded trucks to pass was taken at a meeting last evening attended by senior district and highways authority officials. Mamata was informed about the decision through Rajya Sabha MP Mukul Roy and she had promised to co-operate, said a senior district police officer.

At 6am today, Trinamul supporters started clearing the lane. Chairs and cots lying scattered on the road were removed and heaped on the other side. The party workers then used broomsticks to clean the road of the debris that had accumulated over the past eight days.

Once the road was cleared, the district authorities were informed about it. In the morning, the district administration and highways authority project director Avdesh Kumar met again to decide the course of action. “It was decided that four trucks would be allowed to go from the Burdwan side towards Calcutta,” said Hooghly district magistrate Neelam Meena.

There were no more than a dozen Trinamul supporters when the trucks passed. Mukul Roy and Trinamul leader Subrata Bakshi were on the road to oversee the trial run and Mamata on the dais.

The Trinamul leaders wanted the road blocked again. “They asked us to put the barricades back. So no more trucks could be allowed,” a police officer said. “We hope to clear the lane again tomorrow.”

The police said six-wheeler trucks were being diverted through a service road but bigger vehicles are still stuck.