Title - Record 450 NE natives flee Nashik on Day 4 of exodus

NASHIK: Fear among the city's northeastern Indians continues to rise, with the fourth day recording 450 northeastern natives leaving the district since the mass exodus began. This has been the highest recorded figure during this period as crowds from across the district flocked to the railway station on Nashik Road.ABVP, RSS and BJP volunteers kept reassuring the fleeing crowd about the tight security arrangements and provided them with food packets at the railway station.The violence in Assam and the consequent riot in Mumbai last week has created waves of fear among northeastern Indians. Even as volunteers tried in vain to convince those leaving the migrants said they would return to the state at a later time."We are not under any threat or pressure to leave but are going back only because our families back home are worried and have asked us to return," said a migrant aboard the Mumbai-Guwahati Express."We have been meeting with migrant groups since August 15 to give them an assurance on their security and have now developed a good rapport with them. Most of them are employed at the Satpur and Ambad MIDC industrial areas, some are employed as security guards. There are few northeast students in Nashik," said Dr Prashant Toke, president of ABVP, Nashik.According to the railway police, on August 15-16 about 150 passengers left for Assam, on August 17, around 300 departed and on August 18 the number rose to 450, This includes those passengers who were already booked, waitlisted or were simply leaving without a reservation and had boarded the train."On the first day, our volunteers went to homes of some of the northeastern natives in the city to reassure them that all was well. We also gave their numbers to the police so that they could be assured of safety. We have been coming to the station everyday. On the first day, we got a phone call from Kanpur when a passenger called to inform us that they had reached Kanpur safely," said Toke. Out of fear and suspicion, many fleeing northeastern natives had deliberately given wrong telephone numbers to volunteers.

"But after being convinced of our intentions, one person called on Saturday and disclosed his real number. Some were even reluctant to accept our food packets. We have also given them the phone numbers of our volunteers, in case of an emergency," said Toke.

Police inspector A N Maharshi said that nearly 200 people have been leaving for Assam daily.

Another police inspector, Atul Kshirsagar and his staff, along with police sub-inspector Lalit Kumar of the Railway Police Force (RPF) and several other police officers were present during the bandobast.