Splinter pieces still in his leg,Shakil waits for central aid

“There was flesh,blood and rubble all around,” said Shakil,still waiting for five splinters to be removed from his leg. “I was looking at my thigh and I thought I could get up. It took me three months in hospital before I could stand.”

Shakil received Rs 50,000 from the Delhi government for his injuries. But he said he has spent more on travelling from Ghaziabad to RML Hospital. “We have to hire a taxi every time we visit RML Hospital,” wife Imaram Khanam said. “Since my husband cannot earn now,we had to send our children to my parent’s house in Etawah.”

The Ahmed family hopes the compensation amount of Rs 3 lakh,promised to blast victims by the Centre under the ‘central scheme for assistance of victims of terror and communal violence’,would come in. “It has been eight months since I filed my papers,” Shakil said,“but no one has replied yet. We do not know the status of our claim.”

The family hopes to get either monetary assistance or employment,which could help them pick up the pieces and move on. “I have been approaching government offices for a job,” he said. “How is a mere compensation of Rs 50,000 supposed help someone who has lost his job? I cannot provide for my family and the compensation amount is not even sufficient for my medicines.”