West Bengal: How baby ‘Baani’ beat deluge at birth

GHATAL: A 21-year-old woman in labour, stuck in marooned Mansukha village of Ghatal, was rescued by an NDRF team in a speedboat early on Tuesday. Nine hours later, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl at the subdivisional hospital and was named Baani, derived from the Bengali word ‘baan’ which means deluge.
Family members said Priyanka went into labour around 9.30pm on Monday. It was about to rain at the time and the nearest hospital from the village is 7km away. Brother-in-law Bikram Dolui, a goldsmith in Chhattisgarh who was fortunately home owing to the pandemic, had the presence of mind to browse social media for emergency numbers.
“I found the phone number of SDO Suman Biswas on social media and called him. He didn’t disappoint us and arranged for help as soon as possible. My sister-in-law was taken to Ghatal and admitted to hospital in time,” Dolui said.
SDO Biswas said the rescue operation was risky because it was both dark and flooded, and locating the house in such a situation was a tall task. “However, we took on the challenge and the NDRF was able to bring the woman to dry ground. An ambulance then ferried her to hospital,” he said. The rescue was led by NDRF inspector Kanishka Pangti.
The heart-warming rescue comes two days after West Midnapore district officials managed to bring another pregnant woman and a 72-year-old woman with a tumour in her abdomen to hospital from the same village on Sunday.
During her Ghatal flood survey on Tuesday, chief minister Mamata Banerjee lauded the district administration and the NDRF for going the extra mile to help people in distress.