Lalji Pandey, who was shot at by Ajmal Kasab, has been waiting for months to get A-negative blood required for the fourth surgery on his left hand. Sameer Joshi/Fotocorp

Mumbai, Nov. 23: Almost a year has gone by since Lalji Pandey’s life was changed forever by a bullet from Ajmal Kasab’s AK-47, but the 54-year-old can’t decide which is a more taxing ordeal — his daily effort to put on his shorts or the struggle to get compensation promised by the government.

Pandey can’t move his left hand freely as it is placed in a metal cast, the bullet having pierced the bones. He used to work in a paint shop in suburban Andheri before he was hit at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus by Kasab and his fellow gunman Abu Ismail.

Apart from the Rs 50,000 compensation announced separately by the Maharashtra government and the railway ministry, the CST attack victims are entitled to payments from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, the ministry of home affairs and the Railway Claims Tribunal.

Pandey, however, is not even aware that he is entitled to compensation from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s relief fund.

He was among the 50-odd victims of the CST terror attack who had gathered today for a meeting, three days before the first anniversary of the war on Mumbai.

Asked by Kirit Somaiya, a BJP leader campaigning for the victims, how many of them had not received a cheque from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, nearly every one of them stood up.

According to data provided by the Maharashtra relief and rehabilitation department, of the 403 people entitled for compensation, only 118 had received cheques for up to Rs 3 lakh, while 206 cases were pending with the Prime Minister’s Office.

For the remaining 79 victims, the Maharashtra government is yet to dispatch a proposal to New Delhi. A state proposal for compensation is mandatory before the money can be disbursed.

The home ministry compensation process appears even worse with 194 out of 355 cases still pending.

The shock was greater for those like Pushpalata Tandel. She received a Rs 3 lakh cheque from the Prime Minister’s fund, but it had lapsed by the time she got it.

“We deposited the cheque dated March 31, 2009, in the bank three months ago, but no money has been credited to our account,” said Pushpalata’s son Bhushan Tandel.

His father Chandrakant, an employee of CST’s Wheeler & Co newspaper kiosk, fell to the gunmen’s bullets when he tried to close the shop instead of trying to run or hide.

The chaos has renewed calls for a uniform compensation system which would ensure victims and their families don’t have to run from one agency to another.

BJP leader Somaiya said unlike other terror attacks, the immediate relief was smooth for 26/11 victims, but the Centre and the state government needed to appoint an IAS officer and a minister exclusively for disbursing compensation.

For victims like Pandey, the days ahead look bleak. The bullet from Kasab damaged his wrist bone so severely that even after three plastic surgeries over the last 12 months, he can’t do much with it.

“I need another surgery, but doctors are saying “A-Negative” blood is not available,” says the father of four, who was travelling to Varanasi for a wedding the night he was shot at.

His elder son lost a job at a petrol pump while his younger son Shailesh’s auto licence was in the suitcase that was lost in the melee that followed the terror attack. “A Tata trust sends us Rs 5,000 per month but the year-long payments would end next February. What do I do after that?” he said.

Young Ramzan Rehmatullah, who suffered two bullet injuries while trying to take his grandfather to safety at the terminus, is not bothered about one bullet which is still lodged in his chest, but about a peon’s job offered to him.

Rehmatullah managed to take his mother and grandmother Zeenatbi to safety. But his grandfather was killed and he was wounded.

“I have worked with ICICI Prudential, Axis Bank and Spanco Call Centre, but despite my qualifications all the railways have offered is a peon’s job,” said Rehmatullah, who was scheduled to travel to Riyadh 10 days after 26/11 to take up a well-paying job.

Ghulam Mustafa Khan’s eyes welled up when asked about the road ahead.

The 22-year-old’s tailor-father Shahabuddin Khan was shot in the head behind the Taj when the Café Leopold module entered the iconic hotel that night. An embroidery artisan, Khan can write only Urdu and is worried about his mother and the schooling of his two younger siblings.