Centre asks Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh to reach out to northeast people

NEW DELHI: The Centre today asked Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh to reach out to the people from northeast living in these states to allay apprehensions of threat following exodus of hundreds of people.

The Home Ministry also directed monitoring of social networking sites and find out the origin of SMSes through which rumours were spread to generate panic.

Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said he has asked Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar to make an appeal to the people from northeast not to pay any heed to rumours and remain calm.

In an advisory, the Home Ministry asked Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh to reach out to the leaders of the northeast communities to sensitise them about the steps taken by the authorities to provide them full security.

"Police has reached to the people from northeast to tell them not to leave. Our request to them is please do not give credentials to rumours. Whoever is spreading rumours, we will catch them, we are following them," Union Home Secretary R K Singh said.

Two Assam-bound special trains were operated last night in addition to the regular service to clear the sudden rush of passengers triggered by the rumours in the wake of one incident of attack on people from the northeast in Pune following the violence in Assam.

Railway officials had said in Bangalore yesterday that they had sold over 5,000 tickets for northeastern destinations.