Mumbai’s Taj gives jobs to 26/11 victims

For the past two days, Mohammed Iqbal Khan (22) has been learning how to welcome guests.

The Kashmiri boy, who survived a gunshot in his stomach during the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, is being trained to work in the hospitality industry by the Taj Group of Hotels.

Set up last December, the Taj Public Service Welfare Trust is providing vocational training to around 40 people who were either injured or are relatives of those who died.

“The 26/11 attacks changed my life completely. I was a Kashmiri and now I am a hardcore Mumbaikar. It’s like my second birth,” said Khan after a day of training at the Taj Lands End hotel in Bandra.

Khan was working in a pashmina shawl store on Colaba Causeway and was hit by a bullet near Leopold Café.

“The Trust is not promising jobs, but it is most likely that a majority of these people will be absorbed within the Taj Group of Hotels and the Tata Group,” said a Taj spokesperson, who requested anonymity in keeping with company policy.