The inspector who was in charge of the warning vehicles is being served a warning and a Deputy Superintendent of Police has been told to inquire into the incident.

Traffic on city roads was snarled for more than an hour when Vajpayee landed here.

According to official sources, the chaos occurred because of a "misunderstanding". The warning car and a motorcycle, which were supposed to move just a couple of minutes ahead of the convoy of cars which were accompanying the PM, actually left about 20 minutes earlier.

As soon as the PM landed, he got busy meeting his party supporters at the airport. The inspector in charge of the Warning Car thought that the PM was about to leave. He started and so did the Warning Motorcycle. They drove down the PM's route indicating to the cops deployed along the route that the PM was following them. The policemen promptly stopped traffic. But the PM and his convoy of vehicles was nowhere to be seen.

Back at the airport, party workers had asked the PM to wait for 10 to 15 minutes as the crowd at the rally venue was yet to swell. While Vajpayee stayed put at the VIP lounge for about 20 minutes, the cops kept the traffic blocked till the PM's convoy passed through. By that time the damage had been done.

Vehicles moved at snail's pace down Madhya Marg and those coming from Panchkula were diverted towards Industrial Area from Transport Chowk. Vehicles crept bumper-to-bumper with the back-up extending to half-a-kilometre at some places.