SHILLONG/TURA/MAWKYRWAT/NONGPOH: Life came to a grinding halt in Meghalaya along with the rest of the North East on Tuesday as the 11-hour protest called by the North East Students Organisation (NESO) to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 evoked total response.
In the state capital, right from the morning, commercial establishments remained shut while the streets wore a deserted look with only a few private vehicles plying.
While commercial vehicles were off the road a few government-owned public transport vehicles were seen plying early in the morning. However, people moved out of their houses normally.
In Mawlai, tyres were burnt on the roads while in some other localities boulders were placed ostensibly to block vehicular traffic. Police later removed the boulders.
The attendance of employees in government offices remained very low with little work being done.
An official pegged the attendance at about 30-40 per cent. The chief secretary had on Monday ordered employees to attend office and threatened action against unauthorised leave.
Police personnel in batches were deployed in different parts of the city. Speaking to media persons, SP (City) Steve Rynjah said that the city was peaceful except for some minor incidents of blocking of roads with boulders and burning of tyres.
Garo Hills region presented a similar picture with Tura, the second largest town in the state, observing a complete shutdown barring government offices that remained open for work.
“Employees are attending work and we are assessing the attendance. It will cross over 80 per cent,” said West Garo Hills district Deputy Commissioner Ram Singh while speaking to The Shillong Times during the day.
He also said that the Tura Super Market, the main hub of trade in town, initially opened in the morning, but later closed shop.
However, there was no impact of the bandh in the plains areas of Rajabala and Hallidayganj towns with shops open and people going about their daily chores, informed Ram Singh.
While no untoward incidents were reported from the district, miscreants tried to block roads at Chunamati on the outskirts of Tura, and near the FCI godown at Dakopgre by setting tyres ablaze.
The protest passed off peacefully in South West Khasi Hills district where roads were empty.
However, South West Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner, Isawanda Laloo, informed that government offices recorded a “normal” attendance of 84 per cent.
Sources said that while in most parts of the district including Mawkyrwat and Ranikor, people cooperated with the protest, in Borsora vehicles plied in the morning only to be stopped by the members of the KSU later.
The otherwise busy National Highway-6 in Ri Bhoi district wore a deserted look during the period of protest.
Government offices especially in the district headquarter Nongpoh mostly remained closed with very low attendance while business establishments downed their shutters.
Cases of burning of tyres and pelting of stones at vehicles were reported in several parts of the district.
