Navi Mumbai: For Tayyabs, the joy knew no bounds when they finally had a girl child after three sons. But the twist to the joy was that the child was born in Mahalakshmi Express while they were travelling from Kolhapur to Mumbai. Residents of Mira road, Hussain Tayyab (35) and his wife Fathima Khatun (31) already have sons aged 6, 5 and 3 and wanted a girl child.
“A girl child is the ‘lakshmi’ of the house for which we had even gone to Tirupati for praying for the same. Our baby was born in the train and we are now waiting for the railways to contact us for the document that will help my daughter travel for free in the train for the rest of her life. I even visited the railway office in Karjat for the same and I was told that I would get a call from Railway but I haven’t received any such call,” Tayyab said.
He even added that he has been struggling to get a birth certificate now as the officials in Karjat Municipal Council have been delaying the process, he claimed. “I visited the office twice but did not receive the certificate. I cannot keep travelling like this. I don’t earn much,” he added.
Tayyab, who works with a scrap dealer, earns Rs 15,000 per month and is expecting the government to help him raise his daughter in some way as the child was born in train. When contacted Railway PRO, the officer said, “There is no such scheme of providing free travel to children born in train. If we start giving such a scheme, everyone would come to deliver in the train.”
Fatima was nine months pregnant and was travelling with her husband and three sons. “The birth of my baby was considered by the other passengers in the coach as blessing from the goddess Mahalakshmi. Hence, we decided to name her after the goddess and now hope that even the railways acknowledge the blessings by giving her life time free pass. This will be a great gift for the unexpected delivery that occurred inside the train,” said the father.
After reaching Lonavala, Fatima went into labour and she went to the washroom wherein the delivery happened. Later, they contacted Railway control and sought help. “A medical team and stretcher was kept ready at the Karjat railway station and after the initial checkup, she was taken to sub district hospital from where she got discharged the next day as the delivery was normal,” KArjat GRP official Mukesh Dhage said.
