The city railway station resembled a refugee camp as over 10,000 people from the north eastern states, began to converge on it from early Thursday morning although the trains to Guwahati were scheduled to depart only later that night. “We feel safer at the railway station than outside in the city. We have police protection here. Moreover, there is always a mad rush to board a train when it arrives. Arriving at the station early increases my chance of getting into a train,” said Andrew Baruah, who had arrived at the station early morning.
“The railways could announce special trains any time. We cannot afford to miss them and so we have decided to camp at the station till we get on to a train. It’s safer here,” said Bijonoy Das, a BPO employee, who left on the first special train at 8 pm. “I feel relaxed and safe at the station,” admitted Disen, who had arrived at the station at 5 am. Minister Suresh Kumar, who visited the railway station, tried in vain to stop the people from leaving, promising them all security. “The situation is under control. We have started investigation and will nab the miscreants who are circulating the SMSes and MMSes very soon. The government is very confident that whatever happened in Mumbai will not be repeated in Bengaluru,” he said, but no one was listening.
“We have announced two special trains to Guwahati, one with 17 general second class coaches and two second class-cum-luggage vans to leave at 8 pm and another with 16 general second class coaches and two second class-cum-luggage vans to depart at 10 pm, to clear the rush,” said an official of South Western Railway. The two trains will run via Chennai, Vijayawada, Vishakapatnam, Bhubaneswar and Howrah. The Railway Protection Force (RPF), meanwhile, doubled its presence at the station from 15 personnel to 30 on Thursday owing to the crowd of passengers, according to RPF inspector, RD Patil. DCP (West) SN Siddaramappa said the city police too had deployed around 250 policemen in and around the station.