MUMBAI: It is business as usual at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Dalal Street in South Mumbai. Santlal Moriya sells bhel puri at a corner stall and Gilajit Singh has a sandwich stall. They are two of the survivors of the bomb blast that shattered parts of the imposing BSE building on March 12, 1993. Today, 13 years later, as Mumbai awaits the judgment in the blasts case, security remains tight outside the BSE. Since 1993, the building has been fenced off and police presence is high.

Eighty-four people were killed and 217 injured in the first of the serial blasts that took place that Friday afternoon at the BSE. Vendors like Santlal Moriya and Gilajit Singh were seriously injured and took a long time to recover. Although they have now come to terms with their injuries, they still cannot forget what happened that day. "Around 1.10 p.m. on March 12, I heard a loud explosion and suddenly saw people fall. There was blood everywhere and pieces of glass all over my body. There was thick smoke too," Moriya recalls.

"Glad to survive"

Moriya was taken to the St. George Hospital and later to the Government-run J.J. Hospital. "Even now I have pieces of glass all over my body and they hurt sometimes," he said. He underwent two operations on his back. The left side of his neck, back and legs still have injury marks and he often has to take painkillers. Moriya spent some time at a hospital in Varanasi before returning to Mumbai six months later.

"I set up shop here again. I had no choice as I have a large family, including four children to support," said the 39-year-old vendor from Azamgarh. Before the blasts, he had a licence to run his stall. Now he does not. Moriya, who has been in Mumbai since 1984, says the Government paid him Rs. 5,000 as compensation after the blast. But he made no effort to claim the rest of the Rs. 20,000 that was due to him. "I did not even apply for that money, I was so glad to have survived," he said. However, he finds it difficult to evade the civic authorities when they come to evict people who do not have licences. "My injuries make it difficult for me to run and my only wish that is that I should be given a licence and not be harassed," he adds.

Gilajit Singh, 33, who earns Rs. 100-250 every day selling sandwiches, says, "My left leg has 120 stitches and I cannot walk without wearing shoes." He spent six months in J.J. Hospital after the blasts, and is almost disabled. "I applied for compensation and a job but nothing happened," he says dejectedly..Many victims of the 1993 serial blasts and their families feel that they have been denied justice. Jyothi Bhosale, a Shiv Sena corporator whose colleague Vinayak Devrukhkar lost his brother and sister in the blasts at Century Bazar, acknowledges that Vinayak's family was paid Rs. 4 lakh in compensation. But, she says, that does not mean much for the family, as merely compensating the victims was not enough. The guilty had to be brought to book as well.

Long periods of recovery

Many victims of the 1993 blasts live with severe injuries such as loss of hearing, and have had to go through long periods of recovery. Some of them have not received any compensation, as they had no time to pursue that while coping with their trauma. There were 12 blasts in the city on that fateful Friday; 257 people were killed or missing and 713 were injured. Thirteen years later, the verdict in the blasts case, tried by a designated Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court is to be delivered on September 12.

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