Mumbai:
For the several lives that the 26/11 Mumbai attacks changed forever, the past year has been traumatic. Already faced with the hand fate has dealt them, they have also had to deal with the slow pace of relief. Hundreds still await compensation from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund (PMRF).
Among them is Lalji Pandey, who survived the crossfire at CST station, but was left with debilitating hand injury; it cost him his job at a paint workshop.
The initial compensation of Rs 95,000 paid for his medical bills. Now, minus a job and a home to call his own, Lalji is banking on the PMRF's Rs 1 lakh that he is eligible for - but has not received.
"The Collector's Office asked me to submit the required documents, but I still haven't received any compensation," he says.
70% of the victims - dead or injured - are yet to receive any compensation from the PMRF.
The Maharashtra government's relief and rehabilitation department, which is coordinating the benefit package, has admitted this in a letter to the states human rights commission. Of the 403 victims eligible for compensation, only 118 have received PMRF cheques, says the document.
The icing on this not so palatable cake - state authorities are yet to submit documents for 79 victims.
For victims like Lalji, the government's promises hold little value. The trauma of 26/11 lives on, if not in the pain, then in the sheer bureaucratic apathy.