A woman migrant worker travelling from Kazipet in Telangana to Balangir in Odisha gave birth to a baby girl in a Shramik Special train on Sunday. This is the second delivery of a baby on a train in the past 48 hours.
When the woman, identified as Hema Kanti, went into labour, the Railway Divisional Medical Officer was called into the train at Titlagarh. Forty minutes later, mother and child were shifted to a government hospital at Titalagarh by an ambulance, said East Coast Railway. Both mother and baby girl are fine.
On Friday, Kunti Nag, travelling from Secundarabad to Balangir by a Shramik Special train, gave birth to a baby boy. Mother and child were later admitted in a government hospital in Balangir.
In another instance, at Jharsuguda, a migrant woman gave birth to a child inside the police vehicle in which she was being rushed to hospital. The woman was travelling to Bihar from Secundarabad by a Shramik Special train when she went into labour. The train was stopped at the Jharsuguda Railway Station but no ambulance showed up despite repeated calls. Without waiting further, Sabitri Bal, Inspector-In-Charge of Jharsuguda Police, took the woman to hopsital in her police vehicle. Ms. Bal had to supervise the delivery as the woman’s baby boy was born in the police vehicle.
“The delivery of babies on trains shows how desperate migrant workers are to return home. Despite being in an advanced stage of pregnancy, women chose to travel by trains,” said Jyoti Prakash Brahma, Senior Programme Manager with the NGO Aide et Action, who works on issues related to migration.
It is now incumbent upon the district administration to provide the best post-natal care to mothers and newborns at quarantine centres, and make efforts to do away with the stigma attached to them in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Mr. Brahma.
As many as 71 Odisha-bound Shramik Special trains have been run up to May 22. According to East Coast Railway, 21 Shramik Special trains started for Odisha on May 23 while another 21 Shramik Special trains are lined up for May 24.
Meanwhile, an 18-year-old woman was found dead in a coach of a Shramik Special train at Balangir. She was identified as Radha Khara of the Runji village in Odisha’s Koraput district.