President Kalam leads nation to pay homage to 7/11 victims

Mumbai, July 18 (UNI) President A P J Abdul Kalam today led the nation in paying homage to the July 11 serial blasts victims by observing a two-minute silence and placing a wreath at exactly 1824 hrs at the Mahim railway station here.

All trains on the Western, Central and Harbour railway lines were halted at Mahim, Bandra, Borivali, Matunga, Santacruz, Jogeshwari and Bhayander stations. All suburban and outstation trains on the Central and Harbour lines were also halted for two minutes.

At Churchgate, trains on all the four platforms came to a grinding halt and lakhs of commuters waited on the platforms even as the cable channels and 24-hour news channels went off the air for two minutes to pay their respects to the blasts victims .

The fleet of over 3000 BEST buses, 55,000 taxis, airport staff, BMC, Dabbawalas, film and television industry also joined in to pay homage.

As many as 270 sirens, installed by the Civil Defence Corps, went off at 1824 hrs all over the city as an alert from 1825 hrs till 1827 hrs.

At Hutatma Chowk, a busy junction in South Mumbai, pedestrians walking towards Churchgate station stood in silence as soon as the siren went off. Some elderly persons had particularly come out to pay homage and observe the silence.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Governor S M Krishna, Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh and officials from the three forces were also present.

Delhiites joined the nation in paying homage as scores of people assembled at the Jantar Mantar and observed a two-minute silence in memory of those who lost their lives exactly a week from today.

People from all walks of life lit candles and stood in silence for two minutes and prayed for the departed souls.

UNI TEAM AK DB2038