Sunday, February 24, 2008 (Pune)

Fear continues to grip hundreds of north Indian labourers in Pune, who are availing of every possible mode of transport to reach their hometowns, days after dust seemed to settle down on the violence sparked by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's (MNS) campaign against migrants.Official estimates put the figure of workers who left Pune over the last fortnight in the wake of MNS's anti-North Indian rhetoric at over 25,000, adversely affecting many projects of the construction industry which employs the skilled and unskilled labour from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.To make things worse, the city was agog with rumours that February 25 would see another spate of violence in Maharashtra, triggering a fresh wave of migrant labourers rushing to catch North-bound trains and buses.The vitiated atmosphere got the authorities concerned as District Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar and Collector Prabhakar Deshmukh held meetings of various people's representatives to scotch the rumours and to reassure the jittery workforce.They were joined by local Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi, who picketed at Pune railway station to allay fears of those boarding the trains with their family members, carrying meager belongings.