Gaya/Ranchi: A woman gave birth to a baby in Gaya railway station in wee hours of Friday. It was around 2 am, when the railway doctor assisted the lady in the delivery. But even before the mother and child could settle, the doctor along with two Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE)s demanded Rs 300 as baksheesh (tip).
Recounting the details was good Samaritan, Swati Narayan, who had to catch a train for Ranchi, was sleeping at the platform, when she woke up, “I saw a blanket soaked in blood following which I realized that the woman had just delivered a baby. But the parents were stunned by the demand of the doctor and the TTEs.”
She further said, “When I intervened and mentioned that it was illegal to ask money for the delivery. Then they reduced the amount to Rs 250, adding that it was needed for the certificate, as they needed to get the delivery registered.”
Swati, a Right to Food activist added, “But who are they to issue birth certificate? In fact, the mother needed to be immediately shifted to a hospital. The parents were worried a lot, as the child had not cried since birth.” While arguing with the Railway officials, Swati took photos of the TTEs and tweeted it. When they realized they were being captured, they left the place.
“After they left, I called the ambulance, but it did not came, so the parents along with the newborn took an auto and rushed to the nearest hospital.”
Later, Swati lodged an online FIR about the incident and also wrote to the Women Commission about the incident.
After tweeting the incident to Divisional Railway Manager (DRM)s, she came to know that one Shreenath Sah, who was travelling in the same train Ganga Damodar Express (13330) was the first one to notice the pain of the pregnant lady. Following which he had tried calling on 182 and 138, but when the calls were not attended, he had tweeted,
“@PiyushGoyal sir kindly help one pregnant lady travelling in 13330 currently and she feels too much pain … I had tried 182 and 138 but only bg responses are coming. The lady is at last bogi of Mahila compartment #emergencymedicine (sic).”
It was after his tweet, DRM Mughalsarai had arranged for a doctor to assist the lady to deliver the baby at Gaya Junction.
Meanwhile, the father, Dilip Kumar, when contacted did not want to talk about the incident, while the mother while talking to eNewsroom said, “Baby is fine.”
