On the evening of 1 June 2026, a Bengaluru resident sat in the middle of Old Airport Road in protest after traffic police halted all movement for nearly 30 minutes to facilitate the convoy of the Karnataka Governor.
The man had his pregnant wife in the car and stepped out of his vehicle to question why ordinary citizens were being made to wait.
“Just because the Governor is a VIP, does that mean we are nobody?” he asked police officers — words that quickly spread across social media and reignited a familiar debate around VIP movement and public inconvenience.
The incident is far from isolated. Just a week earlier, hundreds of vehicles in Bihar’s Motihari remained stranded as traffic was stopped for an official convoy in temperatures reportedly touching 42°C. Frustrated commuters responded with continuous honking in protest.
For many Indians, these scenes are familiar: delayed ambulances, missed appointments, stalled school runs and long waits at intersections while convoys pass. But across several Indian cities and states, authorities are experimenting with ways to reduce disruption while maintaining security.
Broadly, these approaches fall into four models: reducing convoy size, keeping parts of roads operational during movement, limiting visible markers of privilege, and prioritising emergency access. Here is how different regions are attempting to minimise inconvenience during VIP movement.
Aizawl: The no-preferential-access model
Perhaps the most unusual example comes from Aizawl, where traffic management relies less on convoy protocols and more on a shared principle: public roads should remain public.
Unlike many cities where intersections are cleared ahead of VIP movement, officials in Aizawl generally move within regular traffic flows rather than through dedicated corridors. The result is fewer road stoppages and less disruption for commuters.
Cities such as Hyderabad and Shillong have introduced measures aimed at reducing the disruption traditionally associated with VIP convoys. Photograph: (Hub News)
Cars largely stick to the left side of the road and two-wheelers to the right, an informal arrangement that keeps vehicles moving even on narrow, hilly roads.
Rather than creating separate movement systems for officials, Aizawl’s model reduces disruption by avoiding preferential road access altogether. The city’s traffic discipline has often been cited as an example of how predictable road behaviour can reduce congestion without extensive enforcement.
Shillong: The regulation model
In Shillong, the government opted for formal rules. Following repeated complaints around sirens, flashers and VIP privileges, Meghalaya introduced a Standard Operating Procedure in November 2025 aimed at reducing unnecessary disruption.
Under the SOP, even the Chief Minister’s vehicle requires written approval for flashers. Sirens are restricted to emergency services, police vehicles and pilot escorts of designated protectees. Tinted windows are also restricted to limited categories.
The state later expanded reforms by standardising official vehicle name boards and restricting who could display them.
While these changes may appear cosmetic, reducing visual markers of authority can influence how roads are managed in practice. Vehicles that signal privilege often receive informal priority from motorists and enforcement personnel. The attempt here is to reduce those signals and standardise movement protocols.
Hyderabad: The partial-road model
Telangana adopted a more direct traffic-management intervention.
Chief Minister Revanth Reddy instructed police not to completely stop traffic for his convoy movement, saying: “I am a CM — Common Man, not a VIP.”
Cities such as Hyderabad and Shillong have introduced measures aimed at reducing the disruption traditionally associated with VIP convoys. Photograph: (News Meter)
Following this directive, police shifted toward allowing traffic to continue in at least one operational lane while convoys moved through the city.
The distinction matters. Full road closures create cascading congestion across intersections and adjoining roads. A partial-lane approach limits disruption to the immediate movement corridor and shortens waiting times for commuters.
Rather than freezing entire roads, Hyderabad’s approach attempts to keep cities functioning while security arrangements continue.
Kerala: The reduced-convoy model
Kerala’s approach has focused on shrinking the footprint of official movement itself.
Ahead of assuming office, the Chief Minister publicly stated that convoy sizes should remain minimal and instructed officials to ensure movement caused as little inconvenience as possible.
The emphasis has been on reducing the number of escort vehicles and limiting oversized motorcades that require extensive traffic control measures.
Smaller convoys generally require shorter rolling blocks, fewer escort deployments and less road space — reducing the time intersections remain frozen.
The approach reflects a shift in thinking: instead of only improving traffic management around convoys, reduce the size of the convoy requiring management in the first place.
Karnataka: The emergency-priority model
One of Karnataka’s most significant reforms emerged after public criticism over ambulances being delayed during convoy movement.
Following an incident where an ambulance reportedly waited for around 15 minutes while a convoy passed, the state directed traffic police to prioritise emergency vehicles irrespective of VIP movement.
After reports of ambulances being held up during convoy movement, Karnataka directed police to give emergency vehicles priority regardless of VIP travel. Photograph: (The Better India)
“Nothing is more important than rescuing a person in need of immediate medical help,” the order stated.
More recently, Karnataka police also restricted the use of escort vehicle sirens, encouraging officers to rely more on wireless communication systems during convoy movement.
These reforms have not eliminated disruptions entirely — as the June 2026 Bengaluru protest demonstrated. But the principle behind them is increasingly clear: emergency mobility and public convenience can no longer be secondary considerations.
The man who sat down on Old Airport Road was not simply protesting traffic. He was questioning a long-standing assumption that public roads must routinely stop functioning for powerful people.
Across India, the responses remain uneven. But from keeping roads partially open to shrinking convoy sizes and prioritising ambulances, a growing number of administrations are experimenting with a different approach: moving VIPs without bringing cities to a halt.
