Out of 273 who boarded the train in Guwahati, only 20 to 30 were heading to Bangalore
Blame it on the Assam government’s failure to instill a sense of security in the minds of people who were part of the recent mass exodus. A ‘special train’, arranged by the state government for these people, left for Bangalore from Guwahati on Saturday.
However, only 273 people boarded it in Guwahati, suggesting that the government had not done much to make the people feel secure.
The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) said 1,200 people had booked their tickets for the train. Of the 273 passengers who boarded in Guwahati, apparently the destination of only 20 to 30 people was Bangalore and Karnataka. They are all grade IV workers employed in private farms and companies in Bangalore and they had fled the city last month.
Twenty others, who also left Bangalore in a state of panic, came to Guwahati to travel by the train on Saturday. But when they learnt that the journey was not free of cost, they left for their homes.“The state government had made an announcement about the special train. We thought the journey will be free of cost. We are going back home now as we are not carrying enough money,” they said.
When asked about these people, the state’s forest minister Rockeybul Hussain told DNA at the railway station, “We will make arrangement for them in the next train that will leave Guwahati on September 5”.
Thirty three security personnel, led by a deputy superintendent of police, accompanied the passengers. Padum Chetri, one of the passengers travelling to Bangalore, said he was relieved to be able to go back to his workplace.“I’m happy that I‘m now going back to Bangalore. But given the attacks on people in trains last month, my family is deeply worried about my safety,” Padum, an office assistant at John F Technological Centre in Bangalore, told DNA.
Others like Jogen Sonowal, Souravjyoti Gogoi and Sarbeswar Mili were also apprehensive. “Under such circumstances, it is natural that people will be apprehensive. We are no exception,” they said. “It’s all about livelihood. We are going back to Bangalore as the city gave us our bread and butter,” they added.
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