Odisha: Migrant worker delivers baby in Shramik Special train, third such case in state

A 19-year-old woman delivered a baby boy in a Shramik Special train that was heading towards Odisha’s Bolangir on Friday morning, marking the third case of childbirth by incoming migrant workers.

Meena Kumbhar was travelling from Telangana’s Lingampali area in a Shramik Special train with her family and went into labour just before Titlagarh station, East Coast Railway officials said.

The train was halted at Titlagarh station at 5.40 am and a railway doctor checked the mother and child. Both were doing well. The mother-son duo was moved to the sub-divisional hospital at Titilagarh through Janani ambulance service on the direction of the assistant divisional medical officer.

The East Coast Railway officials said they considered the childbirth as a good omen for the Indian Railways and announced a gift of Rs 5,000 for the newborn. General manager Vidya Bhushan said the Railway officials, on a personal and voluntary sponsorship basis, will give gift coupons to babies born under its jurisdiction. Other senior officials have volunteered to sponsor gift items in subsequent cases if any babies are born in Shramik Special trains.

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Third such case in Odisha

This is the third case of childbirth of migrant workers in Shramik Special trains coming to Odisha. Of the three babies born on the train, two were born at Titilagarh while one was born at Bolangir.

A woman police inspector of Jharsuguda had helped a migrant worker from Bihar in delivering her baby girl in a PCR van on May 24. Payal Kumari of Krishnapur in Bihar was going from Secunderabad to Danapur with her husband Balkrishna Prasad when she went into labour.

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Soon after the train halted at Jharsuguda station, the woman inspector Sabitri Bal found Kumari in extreme pain and boarded her on a police control room (PCR) van to reach the hospital. Before they made it to the hospital, Kumari delivered a baby girl inside the vehicle.

In a separate incident, a coronavirus disease patient gave birth to a baby boy at a COVID-19 hospital in Bhubaneswar on Thursday. The woman, who had returned to Odisha, was referred to KIMS Covid-19 hospital on May 30 after she tested positive.

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