Home Minister Sahara Khatun in parliament yesterday claimed traffic congestion in the city has been reduced "a great deal", but in apparent contradiction she blamed traffic jam for her 25-minute delay in joining the House proceedings.
According to yesterday's parliament business schedule, the home minister was to reply lawmakers' queries during the question hour after the House went into sitting around 5:35pm.
But Speaker Abdul Hamid, who was presiding over the sitting, did not find the home minister to reply question of Awami League lawmaker Nurunnabi Chowdhury.
The Speaker then requested Information Minister Abul Kalam Azad to give proxy for the home minister.
After around 25 minutes, Sahara Khatun entered the House and took part in the question hour and replied lawmakers' queries.
Before starting replying, the home minister told the House that she was delay in joining the House in time due to traffic congestion.
She also regretted to the Speaker for the delay.
But while replying to lawmakers' queries on reducing people's sufferings due to tremendous traffic jam in the city, the home minister in a scripted answer said, "Traffic jam in the city has been reduced to a large extent for ensuring movement of vehicles according to traffic rules".
Source : The Daily Star
