By Abdul Rauf Beig | NT
PANAJI: As part of confidence building measures and in order to prevent exodus of people from northeastern states from Goa in view of the fear psychosis created due to circulation of a gory MMS of the violent events in Assam, Goa police on Saturday held meetings in various parts of the state with people from northeastern states working in Goa.

The state police assured scores of young people from North-East, who turned up for the meetings at Panaji, Margao, Vasco, Mapusa, Ponda and Curchorem, and who are working at various places in the state that Goa was a safe place and that there was no need for them to rush back to their homes.
In a related development, the district magistrates of both the districts in Goa have banned dispatch of mass MMSes/SMSes in order to prevent any untoward incident and maintain law and order in the state.
According to some of the youth from North-East, many among them have been fearing for their lives, after they came across news of circulation of the dreadful MMS allegedly of the gory incidents that took place in recent past.
They said that some of the youth have already left the state and headed for their homes while some others have moved out of Goa to safer places. They did not elaborate which were the safer places. They also said that following police assurance they plan to call back their friends and colleagues.
Mr Neelamani, a supervisor with a security agency in the city and hailing from Assam, said that the events were taking place just 10 kilometres from his house in Assam but he was not disturbed nor frightened to be in Goa.
The young man from Assam said that some of his colleagues have left for home fearing their safety in Goa in view of the MMS. He also said that some of the young people have been called home by their elders and spouses. He said that police have assured them total protection, which was a reassuring act.
Mr Sandesh Bhise, manager of Casino Carnival, which employs around 40 people from North-East, said that nobody from his organisation has left the state after the exodus of the people from North-East started. He had come to the police station along with some of the employees of the casino called for meeting.
Two young girls from Mizoram, working for a beauty saloon-cum-spa, said that they were scared after hearing of the events and the MMS circulation, which could lead to violent retaliation. They said that post police assurance they have no intention to head back home.
Meanwhile, the Goa Police held a meeting with the mobile service providers such as Idea, Reliance, BSNL, Vadafone,  Airtel,  Aircel, Docomo at the Crime Branch office on Saturday in the backdrop of mischievous text messages and MMS clips in circulation.
The police officers informed the service providers to cooperate with the police in curtailing the spread of such messages in the interest of the public. The officers who conducted the meeting included Superintendent of Police (SB), Mr Atmaram Deshpande, Superintendent of Police, Mr Om Prakash Kurtarkar, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Crime), Mr Nilu Raut Dessai, Deputy Superintendent of  Police(SB), Ms Terezinha D’Souza, police inspector (Crime), Ms Sunita Sawant and PSI, Mr Brendan D’Souza were present.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has banned bulk SMSes and multimedia messages for 15 days. More than five SMSes or multimedia messages from one number cannot be sent in one go. All multimedia messages with attachments more than 25 Kb have also been banned. The ban applies throughout the country.