Title - Ferry back panic gripped people to S India: Assam govt

The Assam government has requested the Northeast Frontier Railway authorities in Guwahati to arrange for special trains to transport persons from the state and other NE states who had recently fled their work place in Southern States and Maharashtra [ Images ] out of fear of persecution as threatened through SMSs that were doing rounds in those areas.A senior NFR official informed that a meeting was held between railway officials and Assam government officials to explore ways to transport people from the state to south India [ Images ] to help them resume their work/study that they had let behind recently while rushing back home out of panic.The official said though the government had requested for special trains, no specific date for running the same was not decided yet and it would depend on the rush of the passengers.Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi [ Images ] on Wednesday claimed that most of the persons from Assam who had fled leaving behind their jobs/study in South India were now willing to return as the situation out there had improved because of the security measures adopted by respective governments."Moreover, it has been established that there was not real threat and the panic was triggered because of SMS and MMS campaign launched by anti-India elements," Gogoi added.He said legislators of the state who have met many of those people fleeing southern states, had gathered that most of the people were willing to go back and already some of them have left.

There were about 20,000 panic-gripped persons from Assam who had rushed back to the State among about 40,000 northeast people fleeing South India and Maharashtra. Most of the persons were from Assam, Nagaland and Manipur.

Meanwhile, Assam's one of the main opposition political parties, the Asom Gana Parishad has sent a team to New Delhi [ Images ] to stage demonstration there to press for early solution of several burning problems in the state including illegal migration from Bangladesh which has been identified as a key reason behind recent flare-up in Bodoland Territorial Council areas in Assam has left 78 dead and drive over 4 lakh out of home to refugee camps.

One of the main demands of the AGP is to seal the border with Bangladesh to stop cross border migration and updating the national register of citizens in Assam on the basis of 1971 voters list to detect illegal migrants.