7 years on, Mumbai train blasts victim still waits for compensation

Mumbai: Seven years after the serial bomb blasts on the suburban local trains rocked the metropolis, Allwyn D’cunha, a victim of the attack, is still waiting for the compensation promised by the government. “Nobody has been able to change our lives. Once every year we remember this day and soon forget. The government has still not reimbursed our medical treatment expenses,” Allwyn, who survived the attack, said. “We are not demanding extra money from the government but only what we spent from our own pocket. We are not seeking special help. We had produced all the medical bills, but then too the government has not reimbursed the money,” he said. D’cunha, who was severely injured in a bomb blast in a local train at Borivali station on 11 July, 2006, said he had moved the Human Rights Commission and had won the case there. [caption id=“attachment_947927” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of a station after the blasts. Reuters[/caption] “The commission directed the government to compensate me immediately. But nothing has happened,” the 46-year-old said. “Once every year they (media) remember us, but after that they forget,” he lamented. BJP leader Kirit Somaiya expressed disappointment over the delay in the blasts case trial. “After seven years, the trial in this case has commenced in lower court. Thirteen terrorists are still absconding. The victims are awaiting justice and rehabilitation,” he said. On July 11, 2006, seven blasts went off in as many local trains during a span of 11 minutes, killing over 200 people and injuring about 700. PTI