Hyderabad: It took more than seven long years for government aid to reach a young man who was reduced to a mental and physical wreck by a bomb blast at the busy Kothi road in Hyderabad.
Senior state minister K Taraka Rama Rao today handed over a cheque of Rs1 million (Dh55,465) to G Sadasiva Reddy, who was seriously injured in the bomb blast at the famous eatery Gokul Chat Bhandar on August 25, 2007.
The terrorist attack, with twin blasts at Lumbini Park near the state secretariat and at Gokul Chat, killed more than 43 people and injured many.
The incident turned the life of Reddy, holder of Master’s Degree in Engineering and working a Hyderabad-based electrical company, upside down. Reddy suffered a serious head injury that affected his nerves and memory. Both his legs were also left dysfunctional, leaving him completely dependent on his family. His costly treatment also devoured most of the resources of the lower middle-class family.
Like the kin of the other survivors of the blast, his parents ran from pillar to post seeking assistance from the government.
Although Reddy’s family thanked the government for the belated help, the Rs1 million cheque could be of little solace to a family whose young and promising son is confined to a wheelchair.
“If that bomb blast had not taken place or at least my son was not there, he would have been hale and hearty, working in Germany and enjoying his life, helping his family and many others”, said Mohan Reddy, his father.
While another software engineer, Badshah, who was injured in the blast and left handicapped, received Rs1.5 million from the government in the past, and help has reached Reddy, there are many other survivors of the blast still waiting for financial aid. One of them is Syed Andul Raheem, who lost one eye and has impaired vision in the other. He said of the promised Rs20,000, he has received only Rs10,000 so far.
