GUWAHATI/BANGALORE: Reflecting a gradual return to normalcy after the panic exodus, people from the northeast headed back to Bangalore in special trains from Guwahati and the situation also eased today in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

A spokesman for the Northeast Frontier Railway Nripen Bhattacharya said in Guwahati that three special trains had left for Bangalore yesterday taking back in a phased manner those who had fled from the capital of Karnataka fearing attacks on them sparked by rumours in the wake of violence in Assam The official, however, could not give the exact number of people returning to Bangalore.

Government officials said it would take two to three days before all of them returned to Bangalore and other cities like Pune and Chennai from where thousands of fear-stricken Northeasterners had fled. After four days of panic-driven exodus of Northeasterners, the situation eased today with police and railway officials saying it has stopped in Karnataka and reduced to a trickle in Tamil Nadu.

In contrast to the exodus of people from the northeast, it was a normal situation in Bangalore which was turned into a virtual fortress amid tight security. Upto 30,000 people had fled the country's IT capital since late last week which abated yesterday after the government went overdrive to instil confidence in the people from northeast. Over 18,000 police personnel, bolstered by Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), kept a hawk-like vigil in Bangalore with Ramzan also being celebrated today.

"The situation is absolutely peaceful and normal ... People from the northeast are going about their chores without any disturbance and the exodus has completely stopped", additional commissioner of police (law and order) Suneel Kumar told PTI. Bangalore Police commissioner Jyothi Prakash Mirji said they have held several peace committee meetings with community leaders and police also intensified night patrolling. Railways, which ran additional trains to Guwahati after the sudden rush of fleeing northeasterners, did not operate any special services for the second consecutive day.