Red tape has no exceptions. No matter that you are a bomb blast victim with damaged ears and a recently reconstructed right leg!
Twenty-two-year-old Mohan Reddy, one of the several injured during the Dilsukhnagar twin blasts on February 21, got a bitter taste of the government functioning and apathy.
On a single day and in a span of six hours, he unsuccessfully ‘limped’ his way to the Koti Government ENT Hospital, Osmania General Hospital (OGH) and Saroornagar police station in vain for a disability certificate after losing hearing ability in the blast. That nightmarish day was a Friday (March 22).
Mohan’s tale of ordeal at every place he visited was filled with vague replies as each department passed the buck to the other.
“I was hoping that they will show some mercy for blast victims but it was a mistake,” he laments. Mohan went to ENT Hospital at around 10 a.m. when doctors refused to see him. “They did not want to check me without a medico-legal case (MLC) certificate. I was advised to collect it from Osmania General Hospital,” recollects Mohan.
His next visit was to the Osmania General Hospital’s casualty wing -- only to face further humiliation.
Doctors there wondered if he was ‘really’ one of the blasts victims.
“They thought I was an impostor and were not convinced even when I showed my discharge summary from the private hospital where I was treated.”
He was told to approach the police for a first information report (FIR) copy as proof of being a victim. Mohan, being helped by one of his relatives in moving around, was by then tired, exasperated and was on the verge of breaking down.
Yet, gritting his teeth, he went to the Saroornagar police station.
“They were stumped as they never received such a request. I was told that only one FIR had been registered for blasts based on which the investigation is going on and it had no names. The best they can do is furnishing a letter that I was ‘indeed’ a victim,” he says.
Mohan returned to ENT Hospital to seek further clarification but doctors had already left for the day.
And, he continues to wait for the elusive letter of proof from the Saroornagar police. “If this could happen to a blast victim, what about the general public?” he wonders.
Keywords: Dilsukhnagar blasts, disability certificate, Mohan Reddy
