Hyderabad: The 12th anniversary of the twin blasts in the city passed off with few people paying any attention to an event got up to mark the terror attack which claimed 44 lives at Gokul Chat in Koti and Lumbini Park on the Hussainsagar shore.
A survivor, a family member of a victim and a rescue worker turned up at Gokul Chat to remember the victims. Last year, a few more people had turned up. It appeared that those who survived the blasts and those who lost their relatives did not want to re-live the tragedy by visiting the spots.
Those who were present on Sunday at Gokul Chat were Mr Syed Raheem who lost an eye in the blast when he went pick up ice-cream for his daughter, Mr Joshi Narsimha Sharma who lost his daughter and Mr Papalal Ravikanth who adopted a Muslim girl Sania who was found abandoned after the blast. Sania was found crying at a distance from the blast site.
Recalling the blasts in the city which have claimed 77 lives — 44 at Gokul Chat and Lumbini Park, 14 in the explosion and later incidents at the Macca Masjid and 19 in Dilsukhnagar — Mr Raheem said the survivors and family members of the victims were forced to live a pathetic life.
The government had provided ex-gratia amount to the victims’ families but was not sufficient, he said. The government should rehabilitate all of them and provide housing and other amenities. He said there was no security to the people, and still many public places are vulnerable to terror attacks. He said 12 years had passed since the twin blasts but those who triggered them were still alive. He said they should be given such punishment that they can feel the pain they had given to others.
Mr Narsimha Sharma, who spent the day with orphans and donated to an orphanage, said his daughter, Pratyusha, had gone to Koti to purchase books for the Junior Research Fellowship test.
She went to Gokul Chat with her friends when the bomb exploded. He said public places are soft targets. There are no sufficient security at shopping malls, even Metro stations are not safe.
