The Railways have started running special trains and attaching extra coaches to trains from Bangalore in view of the exodus of Northeast students from the city following rumours.
Railway Minister Mukul Roy told reporters here that he had directed the officials to ensure that the rush did not create any untoward incident.
A special train was run on Wednesday night and another on Thursday morning. Both were routed through Chennai where extra coaches were added to pick up those heading for Northeast.
While stressing that it was the Railways’ discretion to run special trains, Mr. Roy said a spurt in purchase of tickets for Northeast destinations from both Bangalore and Chennai was reported to both the PMO and the Home Ministry.
Against a usual booking of about 300 to 400 tickets daily from Bangalore to Northeast, the authorities discerned a marked increase in the past two to three days. On Wednesday, the bookings shot up to 6000.
A similar surge was also noticed in Chennai, though not of the same scale as in Bangalore. The number was 600 in Chennai.
The Karnataka Home Minister visited the Bangalore railway station and appealed to people to cancel their tickets and stay back. Promising security, he urged them not to be carried away by rumours.
On Thursday, the number of tickets purchased was relatively lower side and the authorities estimated it to be over 3000 tickets.
