Ahmedabad: Eighteen bombs were defused in the diamond hub of Surat on Tuesday and on Saturday, 17 blasts shook the city of Ahmedabad. There was even a bomb scare in Vadodara. Terror is hounding Gujarat.

As fear stalked the streets, residents across Surat preferred to stay indoors. Shops, schools and malls remained closed even on Wednesday and the police were on high alert.

The terror trail across urban India has taken a toll on the minds of people. Clinical experts believe that families of blast victims and the victims themselves will need prolonged counselling to deal with post-traumatic stress.

Kamlesh Tank had a narrow escape in Saturday’s blasts and his family has been on tenterhooks since then. His father hasn’t left his hospital room since Saturday.

Kamlesh’s relative, Mukund Tank says, “Humne doosre baccho ko bhi school nahin bheja. Dukaan bhi bandh hai.” (“We didn’t send the other children of the family to school either. The shop too is closed.”)

Psychiatrists point out that cases of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are slowly being reported across the city. PTSD is a clinical condition trigerred by a mass tragedy that affects not only victims of the incident but often society at large.

Psychiatrist Dr Mrugesh Vaishnav says, “Surat is seeing mass panic. People in surat are afraid of impending fear. For Ahmedabad, it’s another degree of panic due to acute stress.”

Fear was also evident in Vadodara. A day after the Maharaja Sayajirao university received a bomb threat, security was stepped up on campus and students were screened before being allowed entry.

Source by ibnlive.com