SHILLONG, March 19: The end of the budget session of the state Assembly was a welcome relief for many for reasons ranging from their issues being raised and addressed to being stuck in a traffic jam for hours and prolonged duty hours.
The one that tops the list and is a topic of public discussion is the issue of traffic and how its management is tilted towards the privileged.
This stems from the fact that while commuters are strictly directed to follow the traffic line and flow and be patient, the legislators and few officials are allowed to cut through and create more hurdles for others on the road.
Speed, overtaking and indiscriminate honking by vehicles carrying VIPs seem to be an accepted norm, so much so that an inch of movement by a vehicle of a commoner is met with shouts – sometimes abusive – and piercing whistles and stares.
This was the scenario on each and every day of the Assembly session.
Although each session started at 10 am sharp, the legislators invariably made it a habit of virtually ploughing through the traffic at quarter to 10 or a few minutes past 10.
“This could have been avoided had the MLAs spared some thought about the public and started earlier to be in the Assembly on the dot,” a frustrated commuter said.
There have been instances of official vehicles with no escort approaching from the opposite direction near the taxi stand at Civil Hospital and then taking the road from the hospital traffic point towards Rhino.
“The government seems to convey that officials and MLAs are above the traffic rules,” another commuter said.
The chaos that ruled the street in the morning returned in the afternoon on each day of the budget session. People stuck in the traffic shrugged helplessly in anticipation of a similar ordeal when the Assembly is in session again.