Students from the northeastern states who were planning to travel home for the Christmas vacation have been left stranded as protests against the Citizenship Act flared up across Assam.
Flight tickets for northeastern states, other than Assam, have shot through the roof because of the ongoing unrest. Tickets that normally cost Rs 5000 (Delhi to Imphal) have gone up to Rs 16000.
Anyone travelling to other northeastern states by rail or road has to go via Guwahati. However, due to the ongoing protests, all the northeast-bound long-distance trains from other parts of the country were being terminated at Guwahati leaving the commuters stuck.
Three major long-distance trains--Sikkim Sundari Express from Anand Vihar in New Delhi to Agartala in Tripura, Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani and Dibrugarh-Chandigarh Express--have been cancelled, railway officials said.
President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday gave his assent to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, turning it into an Act.
According to an official notification, the Act comes into effect with its publication in the official gazette on Thursday.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday and by the Lok Sabha on Monday.