Mamata raps cops on road...

Vehicles stopped at the AJC Bose Road-Hospital Road crossing after the chief minister’s convoy passed and (below) the convoy on an empty flank of Red Road. (Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya)

Mamata Banerjee stormed out of her black Santro and chided traffic cops twice on her way to Writers’ Buildings on Tuesday for providing her smooth passage by turning the light red the moment her convoy passed a crossing.

“The chief minister has told you several times not to do this. Do not unnecessarily block the path of people to allow her to move freely. She does not want this,” a security officer in Mamata’s convoy told a traffic sergeant moments after she got off her car at the AJC Bose Road-Hospital Road crossing at 11.46am and spoke to him.

The cops at the crossing had stopped vehicular movement towards AJC Bose Road flyover and Hospital Road as Mamata’s convoy approached the crossing down DL Khan Road. Immediately after the convoy crossed the intersection, the police turned the lights red for other cars moving in the same direction.

The sight of the cars stranded around her as she passed the crossing angered Mamata. She stopped her car, rolled down the window and got down. A security officer ran up to her and then towards the policemen at the crossing with Mamata’s message. The convoy resumed its journey at 11.48am.

Two minutes later, Mamata again stopped her car at the Red Road crossing, in front of Fort William, seeing a long queue of vehicles on the lane to the right of the one her convoy was moving along. Policemen had kept her lane clear and stopped moved along the other lane.

Mamata called a policeman, who rushed towards the rolled-down window of the Santro while adjusting his cap and bent down to take orders.

“She asked me to clear the congestion quickly and not make any special arrangement for her convoy,” the officer said later.

The black Santro moved on within 40 seconds and proceeded to Writers’.

With the chief minister insisting on traffic not being disrupted for her movement, the police are struggling to find a way to sanitise her route.

“We have been ordered not to free the road for her like we do for other VVIPs. At times, she automatically gets a green light and does not have to stop at a crossing,” said a senior officer of the traffic department.

Making things even more challenging, Mamata’s office has instructed the police not to relay her position through wireless sets.

“This is to ensure that traffic lights on her way are not altered to ease her passage,” said a senior officer. Hence, the men in uniform can only inform each other about her position over the cellphone.

The traffic control room can contact the nodal officer of the special branch in Mamata’s security team only in an emergency.

“If the chief minister follows a straight route to office it gets easier for us to track her. But the moment she changes her path and goes for a surprise inspection, we lose track of her. It is extremely unsafe but all we can do is send a couple of sergeants to find her,” added the officer.