The faces which had only showed fear and panic while fleeing the city on August 15 were smiling as they returned to the city on Tuesday morning at around 4 am.
Around 1,000 people from the Northeast returned to Bengaluru on Tuesday morning by a special train arranged by the Assam government which left Guwahati on September 1. Another train is expected to leave Guwahati on September 8.
“On Tuesday nearly 1,000 people embarked at the City Railway station from the Northeast and different parts of West Bengal. Depending on the requirement, we will decide till when we should continue with the special trains. All those who returned have expressed satisfaction with the security being provided by the government for their protection,” said a official of the South Western Railways.
Mr Bipin Pal, a native of Siliguri, said: “I am very happy to come back to the city. I, along with my brother had left the city on August 15. But once we came to know that the rumours were baseless, we decided to come back, though our families back home were sceptical about us returning. Having confidence in the government and the police here, we came back.”
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Kokrajhar and chirang normal again: Gogoi
MANOJ ANAND
Guwahati, Sept. 4
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi here on Tuesday said that confidence-building measures of his government have started yielding positive response with more than 2.42 lakh refugees returning to their place of displacement in trouble-torn Bodoland Territorial Council.
Claiming that fear factor which was delaying the rehabilitation of refugees has also come down, Mr Gogoi told reporters, “Situation in worst violence-hit Kokrajhar and Chirang districts was limping back to normal as there was no incident of violence in past few days.”
He however applauded the role of the civil society, political parties and media in extending their support in restoring peace and normalcy in BTC areas. The violence between natives and Bengali-speaking Muslims had broken on July 19 in Kokrajhar which later on engulfed entire BTC. Mr Gogoi said the government, in coordination with BTC leaders, is touring the trouble-torn areas and meeting refugees to persuade them to return.
He said group of ministers is going to hold its next meeting with BTC leaders on September 6 to work out modalities to rehabilitate rest of the refugees living in relief camps.