Two years after the blasts, life has never been the same for Anant Ashtekar. A retired government official, Ashtekar was in the train on that fateful day when the impact of blast cost him his hearing.

"Life has never been the same. Till this day, I cannot hear properly. A tinge of sadness will always remain with me till the day I die," said Ashtekar. "I saw dead bodies lying all around and many people injured. That was one of the most horrifying scenes that I witnessed in my life," he added. He had come along with several others to the Mahim railway station to pay floral tributes to those who died.

Western Railway General Manager A K Jhingron had come with his team at the scheduled time of 9 am to pay floral tributes. "Today is not the day to give any speeches or statements. It is a sad day. I am here with my team only to offer condolences."

On the allegations of discrepancies in the disbursing of compensation and offering railway jobs, Jingron said, "It is not true. We have settled most of the claims. As far as jobs are concerned for people who have disabilities due to blast we are only giving to those people who are more than 40 percent physical disable."

When told to comment on how far the security on railways has improved, Jhingron said, "The results are there for you all to see post 7/11 blast."

However, Aabha Shreeji Sawant, a worker at the dockyard differed and said, "We do feel much safer today traveling in trains but the blasts proved that anything can happen to anyone. The fear factor will be ingrained in Mumbaikars' minds for years to come."

Text & Photograph: Syed Firdaus Ashraf

Also read: McCain, Hillary win Florida primaries

Back

|

Next