The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) will run a special train to Bangalore on September 1 to ferry people back, who had fled from many parts of south India in panic over rumoured threats.
An NF railway official informed that the special train will accommodate two additional coaches making it an eighteen-coach train. The official said that anybody could travel in the train as it had been arranged taking into consideration the large number of people who wanted to return back to colleges and workplaces. He said that more such special trains may be arranged if there is a demand.
The Assam government had earlier requested the railways to run special trains to ferry back those who were willing to go back to their places of work and study in the southern states. A senior government official said that many people had already returned to Bangalore and other places in south India.
About 40,000 north-east Indians, including about 20,000 from Assam, had fled from the southern states in panic.
Meanwhile, the Assam government on Thursday stated that it would take action against those elements and organisations responsible for triggering the violence during bandh calls given by the Bajrang Dal and the All Assam Minority Students Union (AAMSU) on August 27 and 28 respectively.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that while taking action against trouble makers during the bandh, it would not differentiate among various organisations.
The Assam government has already imposed a ban on bandh calls given by various organisations in the state on different issues in accordance with standing Supreme Court orders.
The government order came in the wake of violence and the surcharged atmosphere in the state during the bandh called by the All Assam Minority Students Union and thirty other organisations on Tuesday demanding protection of minorities living in the violence-hit BTC area of the state.
The government also announced that a case has already been registered in this regard. It also said that it would put in force all other Supreme Court orders related to its verdict against bandh calls.
In another development, journalists of Assam in a protest meeting held in Guwahati Press Club on Thursday decided to black out AAMSU whose activists attacked journalists in various parts of the state during the bandh called by the organisation on Tuesday.
The boycott would continue till the AAMSU tenders an unconditional apology for attacking scribes. The AAMSU has been barred from the Guwahati Press Club for the next three months.
