Jaipur: Traffic movement slowed down considerably during the peak morning hours Monday owing to multiple public demonstrations and celebrations taking place across the city.Commuters said they remained frozen in spots for 30 to 40 minutes, which normally would take them not more than 10 minutes to travel through, despite the police having made efforts to divert traffic onto alternate routes with the help of barricading.The ‘Hisab Maango’ rally led by Congress that started from Nehru Palace shopping complex caused heavy traffic diversion along Tonk Road, with routes closed partially between Laxmi Mandir Tiraha and Rambagh Circle to manage the large crowd.The procession eventually reached Jaipur Municipal Corporation’s office where Congress persons staged a protest. Police barricading was deployed near JMC headquarters, resulting in a severe bottleneck. Traffic emerging from Devi Path onto Tonk Road was completely prohibited. Sahakar Marg remained chock-a-block till late afternoon due to traffic diversion from Tonk Road as well as diversion near Imli Phatak.Congress functionary Abhishek Chaudhary led a march towards Jaipur Development Authority’s (JDA) office, causing severe gridlock. As the protest took place at Ajmer Road junction, vehicular traffic came to a near-total standstill, spilling deep into Ajmer Road localities. It being ‘Shravan Somvar’, traffic diversions on nearby Col Hoshiar Singh Marg (Queens Road) near Jharkhand Mahadev temple kept the inner roads of Vaishali Nagar overwhelmingly congested.The Walled city also had congestion as a large procession of Kawariya moved through the narrow streets. Galta Gate and Ajmeri Gate faced heavy spillover congestion, slowing down transit.
