Exodus from Pune declines, says Railway

August 19, 2012 02:21 pm | Updated November 16, 2021 11:13 pm IST - Pune

Students of North Eastern States flee Pune after rumours of attack in this August 16, 2012.

Students of North Eastern States flee Pune after rumours of attack in this August 16, 2012.

A relative decline was observed since Saturday night in the number of people from the Northeast heading for their home states in wake of the recent attacks in Pune, official sources said.

Although many continued to board the ‘Azad Hind Express’ that goes to Howrah, the number of students and workers from Assam and Manipur rushing to the railway station out of panic was gradually decreasing, a railway official said.

In Mumbai too, no unusual rush was witnessed on the trains heading for West Bengal and North East, Central Railway sources said.

Thousands of North easterners had been leaving Pune following sporadic attacks in certain localities since August 12, in which over a dozen persons suffered.

Police have arrested 13 persons in connection with the incidents.

The confidence building measures undertaken by police and local help groups as well as public representatives was having a positive impact on the people who were returning mainly due to summons from their worried relatives from the North East, a police official said.

P Brojan, an MLA from Manipur who has been camping in the city to boost the morale of the affected people, said the security measures stepped up by the authorities were helping the students and workers from the Northeastern states to stay back in the city as the situation had eased considerably.

“I am persuading them to stay back and not press the panic button as the security situation has improved in the city,” he told reporters here after attending a peace committee meeting here.

Despite the improved situation, a report from Swar gate area of Pune city said a youth from Manipur was robbed of his cellphone in an incident on Saturday night.

Police said they rushed to the spot immediately to register a complaint.

Meanwhile, police have also registered an offence under the IT Act against unknown persons for circulating doctored MMS and SMSes regarding violence in Assam to intimidate and threaten people, which led to the exodus.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.