Assam riots: Northeasterners leave Chennai

Aug 18, 2012, 04:27AM



Chennai: Overcome by a sense of fear after rumours of attacks and fuelled by the exodus from Bangalore, Northeasterners here are also leaving the city, even as police assured them that they were safe.

Railway officials acknowledged a spurt in ticket sales but did not want to say if this was an exodus. "Around 700 tickets have been sold (since Thursday night). This number is certainly abnormal compared to the usual ticket sales trends," railway officials said, adding additional train services had been operated since August 16.



They also pointed to the regular migration, in and out of Chennai, of north-eastern states-based labourers. On Thursday, hundreds of people from the northeast thronged Egmore station here waiting to board trains to Guwahati that left on Friday.




 

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