Vehicles started rolling along one flank of Central Avenue a little over an hour after the Trinamool Congress event at Esplanade concluded around 2.40pm on Monday.

Police and workers from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) removed barricades that had been put up to manage the party supporters in a short time.

Much more difficult to move were the party supporters who were busy clicking selfies with the dais as the backdrop, even as senior party leaders urged them to keep moving.

While many complied, others stayed back, taking turns. After selfies, group photo sessions started. Some climbed up the dais for a better shot.

The meeting concluded earlier than previous years. But that didn’t make much difference. A section of senior police officers said a higher turnout this year resulted in crowd dispersal taking longer than usual.

A significant number of supporters arriving on buses from the districts did not want to leave the city immediately after the meeting. Since there was a police restriction on their arrival between 9am and 11am, supporters wanted to spend more time in the city, traffic officers said.

“Buses that were parked on Red Road and the adjoining thoroughfares, like Casurina Avenue, left their respective parking lots later than usual because the passengers took longer to return and take their seats,” a senior police officer said.

“The usual parking lots, like the Bangabasi ground and Brigade Parade Ground, couldn’t be utilised as parking lots for buses arriving from the districts because they were slushy after last week’s incessant rain.

As the buses were left parked on the carriageway, their dispersal one after another forced vehicles to slow down along Red Road, Hospital Road and Kidderpore Road.

“The Esplanade-bound flank of Central Avenue was opened to traffic around 3.05pm with two-wheelers and cars allowed to move straight towards Park Street. The other flank remained shut to traffic,” an assistant commissioner of police said.

Some men worked towards re-installing iron railings on the median divider near the meeting venue. They had to be taken off to allow the crowd to gather seamlessly in front of the stage.

Around 3.15pm, the Esplanade-bound flank of Central Avenue was split into two near the meeting venue to facilitate two-way movement of vehicles. Smaller vehicles —cabs, cars and two-wheelers — skirted the stage surrounded by three layers of barricades, to head towards Shyambazar from Esplanade.

The dismantling of the stage in front of the CESC headquarters began around 4.30pm, when senior police officers started leaving the meeting venue.

“The east-west movement of buses and other vehicles from Raj Bhavan end towards Moulali along Lenin Sarani started around 3.30pm after the area around KC Das was cleared of guard rails and other barricades put in place to control the crowd,” the police officer said.

Senior officials from the KMC and a section of Trinamool leaders said vehicles could move only after the thoroughfares around the meeting venue had been cleared of party workers walking down to the stands where their buses were parked.

A team of over 700 staff from the KMC’s solid waste management department cleared the rally venue of water bottles, posters and other items left behind.

They were also at work along Babughat where rally buses were parked and around some of the areas where party supporters were lodged, like Gitanjali stadium in Kasba.

Mechanical sweepers were pressed into action on Central Avenue to clean up the thoroughfare, and sweepers moved around dumping garbage in hydraulic dumpers.

“The dumpers carried the garbage from different venues to trucks that were kept ready, and finally, the waste was dumped at Dhapa. Team members from the solid waste management department were instructed to ensure that no garbage should be left behind,” a senior KMC official said.