Title - NE exodus abates

Bangalore/Chennai: The panic exodus of northeast people from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra abated on Sunday and no special trains were operated to Guwahati but security personnel kept a tight vigil with the Eid festival also falling on Monday.

With no unusual rush being witnessed at Bangalore from where 30,000 northeasterners had left, home minister R Asoka, who a met a three-member Nagaland delegation, told them the exodus had stopped after government assured them safety.

"Everything is calm. There is no need to panic," Asoka said.

"We have arrested 16 persons in the city during last three days for intimidating or sending disturbing SMSs to the northeast population. The situation is under control", he said.

In Chennai, the exit of northeasterners from the city dwindled with only a few hundred seen at the main central railway station.

Police said the number of those leaving, which was around 2,000 every day, had dropped to less than 1,000 on Sunday.

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