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Samjhauta blasts victim runs from pillar to post for compensation
Basant Kumar Mohanty in New Delhi
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May 21, 2007 11:22 IST

Three months after the blasts on the trans-border Samjhauta Express in which he lost his parents and suffered serious burn injuries, Mohammed Zakir's ordeal is not over yet.

He is without work after one of his hands got badly damaged in the blasts and the compensation towards the death of his parents is eluding him.

The 37-year-old Zakir, who was working as a tailor to support his family in Bijnore in Uttar Pradesh, now finds himself in an utterly helpless situation as one of his badly burnt hands have made him unfit to work.

"I have been making rounds of Ambala, Panipat and Delhi to enquire about my compensation. But nobody is giving a clear idea about when I will get the compensation," Zakir, who came to the divisional railway manager's office in Delhi regarding the compensation, told PTI.

The railways had announced Rs 10 lakh as compensation to the next of kin of those killed in the blasts. The relatives of most of the victims, who had identified the bodies, have been paid the compensation.

However, Zakir, who has five children to support, is yet to receive any compensation as the report of the DNA tests of his parents is yet to come.

"The DNA test was conducted as we could not identify the bodies of our parents. My brother had gone to Panipat to identify the bodies and his blood sample was taken for the DNA test," Zakir said.

He has copies of the visas and passports of his parents and remains of the clothes they were wearing when tragedy struck.

Initially, Zakir and his brother Iftikar Ahmed were told by the officials that the report of the DNA test would come within 15 days and then they would be given the compensation.

Superintendent of Police, Ambala Range, Bharati Arora, who is the inspecting officer in the blasts case, told PTI that the DNA samples have been sent to Hyderabad and the test results would be out within 15 days.

"We are expecting the DNA test report within 15 days. After the report comes, we will forward it to the Railway Ministry for further action," she said.

However, Zakir is planning to sell his landed property to meet the daily expenses of his family.


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