Official estimates put the figure of workers who left Pune over the last fortnight in the wake of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's (MNS) 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.