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Journalism of Courage
With the bloody images of Akshardham and Gateway of India blasts still fresh in their minds, Amdavadis got a real scare on Monday morning when a loud sound shook the city. The cause of the noise was not known till late afternoon when the Indian Air Force’s South Western Air Command (SWAC), Gandhinagar, said it was a sonic boom caused by a MiG-21.
But for a city on edge, the first reaction was that it was a revenge bombing — something like the twin blasts in Mumbai in August. As soon as the sound was heard at 10.10 a.m., panic-stricken residents started calling up journalists and newspaper offices wanting to know where the blasts had occurred. The Ahmedabad City Police Control Room had a tough time answering anxious callers who jammed the lines for more than two hours. Police Inspector K. Jadeja said more than 400 calls were received between 10 a.m. and noon, while 300 queries were handled by the State Control Room, Gandhinagar. The Ahmedabad Fire Brigade received around 100 calls. The State Control Room even received anxious calls from Gujaratis in Mumbai, while the Mumbai Police Control Room called in to check.
After the loud sound, window panes started rattling, leading to panic. People came out of their houses fearing there had been an earthquake, while others thought another blast had occurred. Some schools even closed for the day. Principal of New H.B. Kapadia High School, M. Kapadia, said: ‘‘The school authorities were flooded with phone calls as rumours of bomb blasts spread. In the interest of worried parents, we decided not to conduct classes on Monday.’’
Even half an hour after the sound, people were unwilling to believe police and authorities’ explanations that there were no bomb blasts. And the fact that the Government’s Vibrant Gujarat programme is just round the corner only increased their conviction.
PCR vans and fire engines scrambled when the first call came from a prankster that a huge basement market, Apna Bazaar, had been bombed. After making inquiries both the police and fire brigade reported that there were no blasts. ‘‘The Doordarshan Centre has been bombed, you don’t know?’’ an anxious caller told the police control room. Another caller said the target was V.S. Hospital.
The sound of the blast was also heard by Chief Minister Narendra Modi as he was preparing to address a workshop on women empowerment at the Ahmedabad Management Association.
