Mumbai, August 26
Mumbai was back on its feet today, a day after two bomb blasts threw the country’s financial capital into a state of panic.

The city’s lifeline, the local trains, were packed to capacity as nearly five million office-goers returned to work in the morning. Schools and colleges were functioning normally and businesses began functioning as usual.

“Yes, there is fear and people start at any loud sound, but how long can one hide away,” asks Ms Ratna Shah who works at an office in downtown Nariman Point.

The favourite topic of conversation was of course the blasts as commuters in trains and buses eagerly read newspapers and messaged tidbits of information on “black Monday” over messaging services on mobile phone networks.

Most offices and banks that were shut early Monday afternoon were back in business as usual.

Even the bulls in the Bombay Stock Exchange, who beat a hasty retreat on Monday, were back on the rings as the Sensex smartly rallied by more than 147 points.

Monday’s twin blasts left 52 dead and nearly 200 persons injured. One blast at the crowded Zaveri Bazar area, the hub of the bullion trade, caused 37 deaths and left several seriously injured. The bullion markets were, however, unaffected and continued functioning even on Monday.

The police said four persons had been arrested in connection with the blasts. While three of them were arrested in Pune, one was nabbed in Mumbai. According to the police, the arrests were made following leads provided by a taxi driver who transported the suspected bombers to the Gateway of India.

The police is looking for two men and a woman accompanied by a child who hired the taxi in which the bomb was likely to have been placed. The taxi driver survived the blast while the four got away on the pretext of going for shopping shortly before the blast.

Meanwhile, political leaders rushed to Mumbai to take a first-hand look at the disaster, much to the anger of police personnel. Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishan Advani, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi arrived here this afternoon.

“The police was tightly stretched as security had to be provided for all of them,” a senior police official said.

Security agencies are operating at maximum alert levels in Maharashtra in view of the forthcoming Ganpati festival from Sunday. Intelligence agencies have also warned of major terror attacks during the Shahi Snan at the Kumbh Mela in Nashik on Wednesday, according to police officials. Nearly eight million devotees are expected to take the holy dip at Nashik and Trimbakeshwar.

“Surveillance from air and at ground level would be intensified at Nasik in view of the ongoing Kumbh Mela”, Director-General of Police, O.P. Bali told reporters here.

Helicopters would be pressed into service at Nasik to maintain vigil, he said. Similarly, barricades would be set up at the ground level to prevent stampede. The barricades would also help in controlling the crowds and maintaining a vigil on people coming and leaving the place, he added.

In Mumbai, people have been asked to be alert. A sharp eye on suspicious articles or persons was being maintained. A random search of parked vehicles was also being carried out at places, he said.

The Army had been called in to assist in the investigations and a 10-member team of explosives experts of the National Security Guard had also been despatched from New Delhi, officials said.

Their assistance had been sought in view the large scale devastation caused by the blasts, officials said, adding that high-grade explosives like RDX or Semtex might have been used. The Monday’s blasts were far more powerful than the series of earlier blasts that have rocked Mumbai since December last.

The first of the blasts occurred in a bus outside the Ghatkopar suburban train station on December 2, killing two persons. Four days later, a blast at the Mumbai Central station injured 25 persons.

One person was killed and 25 were injured in a blast near the Vile Parle railway station on January 28.

On March 19, a blast ripped through a commuter train plying between the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and Karjat station, killing 12 persons.

The sixth blast occurred in a bus at Ghatkopar on July 28.

The worst bombing in Mumbai happened on March 12, 1993 when 13 blasts rocked the city. About 250 persons were killed and more than 800 injured in the blasts in the wake of the demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya and riots in several parts of India, including Mumbai.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Governor Mohammed Fazal has asked the state government to crackdown on those who create trouble in the city. Mr Fazal was reacting after meeting a delegation of Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party legislators.

Former Chief Minister Narayan Rane of the Shiv Sena and Nitin Gadkarni of the BJP met Mr Fazal and sought the dismissal of the Congress-led Democratic Front government.