Puja revelry peaked on Saptami with endless waves of people at the big-ticket pandals across the city.

Ice cream stalls to biryani outlets — everyone made the most of the festive spirit. From Sealdah suburban to Metro Railway, trains ran packed and stations teemed with people.

Usually, the footfall goes up after sundown. But not this year. Hundreds of pandal hoppers descended on the streets in the afternoon.

The surge in the number of pedestrians and cars left traffic crawling on several thoroughfares for much of Thursday morning and afternoon. The situation improved after the usual police deployment started from 4pm.

By 1pm, there were hundreds of people crowding outside Shibmandir Durga Puja and the volunteers had a challenging time.

“The footfall has gone up since last year. Panchami and Sashthi were more crowded this year than they were in 2003,” said Partha Ghosh, general secretary of Shibmandir Durga Puja.

“Earlier, the peak rush would be between 8pm and midnight. Now, it has become longer, stretching from 7pm to 1am,” he added. “The 8am to noon slot would earlier be somewhat lean. But not this year.”

Ballygunge Cultural, Samaj Sebi Sangha and Hindustan Park saw similar scenes playing out.

In the north, Telangabagan, Tala Prattoy, Chaltabagan Sarbojanin and Hatibagan Sarbojanin were among the pujas that saw the footfall soaring well before dusk set in.

“Every day, the crowd seems more than the lastday,” said Mausam Mukherjee, the general secretary ofChaltabagan.

The sky looked threatening more than once but the showers largely kept off the city. The high moisture content in the air made the conditions sweaty and uncomfortable. But that failed to deter the spirits of the revellers.

Ruma Das, 20, came with three friends from Ashoknagar in North 24-Parganas. The girl gang took a train to Sealdah first and Ballygunge next. Bosepukur Sitala Mandir pandal in Kasba was their first stop.

“We have Ekdalia, Singhi Park, Tridhara, Ballygunge Cultural and several other pujas on our list,” said Ruma.

For several hours in the morning and afternoon, traffic moved at a snail’s pace on Rashbehari Avenue, Alipore, Chetla, Deshapriya Park and several other places.

“The sheer number of pedestrians and cars crippled the traffic movement. Many people started early because they feared inclement weather and flash protests (around the RG Kar rape and murder) in the evening,” said a police officer.

Metro Rail was the choice of transport for most. The coaches were bustling with people and so did the platforms.

Kalighat was among the most-crowded Metro stations. The station is the nearest to several big-ticket Pujas — Suruchi Sangha, Chetla Agrani, Deshapriya Park, Tridhara, Badamtala, Ekdalia and Singhi Park.

On Saptami evening till 6pm, more than 70,000 people had visited the pandal of Sreebhumi Sporting Club, said police sources

Airport-bound traffic slowed down from the EM Bypass-VIP Road flyover itself and on the Durgapur bridge the traffic was slow but moving.

In the evening as the crowd and vehicles swelled to visit the pandal, airport-bound traffic was channelled into a lane on the Ultadanga-bound flank of VIP Road.

Buses, too, were made to ply on Jessore Road.

Crowds swelled in Salt Lake too with AK Block drawing in huge crowds since the evening followed by FD Block.