Two years later...Godhra survivors look ahead

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">AHMEDABAD: If not happy, Girishchandra Raval would at least have been a relieved man on the second anniversary of the Godhra carnage. <br /><br />This octogenarian, who lost wife Sudha in the Sabarmati Express blaze and son Ashwin to the subsequent riots in Ahmedabad, was finding it difficult to feed three mouths on a meagre monthly pension of Rs 3,000.<br /><br />As fate would have it, Raval died last month, a week after the Railway Claims Tribunal paid him a compensation of Rs 4 lakh for the death of his wife. According to neighbours, his daughter-in-law and grand-daughter have shifted to a relative’s house after Raval’s death. <br /><br />But they still face problems as Raval’s surviving estranged son is now staking claim to the compensation. Komal Panchal, 22, and her three sisters will hold a small prayermeeting on Friday in memory of their parents, Harshad and Meeta, and two sisters who died in the train. <br /><br />“It was a huge loss and we can never fill the emotional void,� says Komal. But Komal has at least been able to overcome some problems with the help of the compensation totalling Rs 16 lakh paid by the RCT, in addition to money given by the state government and help offered by the VHP that has bought the sisters a home. Komal, who had left her studies and had taken up a Rs 500 job in a ‘balwadi’ to keep the kitchen fire burning after tragedy, has now left her job and enrolled in college. <br /><br /><formid=367815><br /><br /></formid=367815></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />“There is no financial pressure now and all four of us can now concentrate on our studies. I want all of us to get educated, start working and stand on our own feet. After that,we shall marry,� says Komal. For Sharad Mhatre, whose wife Mala died in the Godhra carnage, February 27 will always remain a painful date. <br /><br />But Mhatre too is fighting to bring his life back on track. He has remarried, he says, to give a sense of family to his two small children. The compensation has given some relief. “We did not get the desired support from expected quarters but the compensation has helped,� says Mhatre. <br /><br />“Life is coming back to normal for the kith and kin of most people who died on board the Sabarmati Express. The loss weighs heaviest on their hearts as the anniversary nears but they are all trying hard to ensure that life goes on, come what may,� says national convenor of VHP’s Durga Vahini, Mala Raval. The outfit has planned a programme in tribute to those killed in the Godhra carnage on Friday. <br /><br /><formid=367815></formid=367815></div> </div>