Many unskilled labourers from other states, working in small as well as big industrial units and construction sites are leaving the area due to fear of attacks by MNS activists, they said.

Heavy patrolling continued on Satpur-Ambad link road, where a sizeable number of North Indians have settled in view of incidents of stone-pelting and attacks on their houses in the last few days.

Trains like Kolkata Mail, Gorakhpur, Mahanagari, Pushpak, Pawan and Kamayani Express were packed with North Indian passengers at Nasik Road and Devlali stations.

The railway police has beefed up security at these stations, where large number of North Indians have been queuing up for trains proceeding towards Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Upset over the incidents in Nasik, one of the migrants, Vijay Yadav, leaving for UP, said he was happy living in the city as the people in Nasik are very good, "lekin ab halat bigad gayi" (but now things have turned worse), he said.

Umeshkumar Chaturvedi, another migrant leaving by Bhagalpur-Express said, "I am not happy to leave Nasik, but now circumstances have forced us to move to my home town."

Station manager D S Rathor said that on an average, 1500-2000 North Indians have moved out of city as per the ticket-office booking records, since last week.