A 19-year-old woman delivered a baby boy in a Shramik Special train that was on its way to Bolangir from Telangana on Friday morning, in the third case of childbirth by incoming migrant workers aboard such train.
East Coast Railway officials said Meena Kumbhar was travelling from Lingampali area of Telangana to Balangir in a Shramik Special train with her family and went into labour just before Titlagarh station.
The train was halted at Titlagarh station at 5.40am, following which a railway doctor checked the mother-son duo. Both were doing well.
Later, both of them were shifted to the sub-divisional hospital at Titilagarh through Janani ambulance service on the direction of the assistant divisional medical officer.
Officials of the East Coast Railway said they considered the childbirth as a good omen for the Indian Railways and announced a gift of Rs 5,000 for the newborn.
East Coast Railway general manager Vidya Bhushan said 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, to babies born in Shramik Special trains.
This is the third case of childbirth of migrant workers in Shramik Special trains in Odisha. Of the four babies, two have been born at Titilagarh while one was born at Bolangir.
A woman police inspector of Jharsuguda had helped a migrant worker from Bihar deliver 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 experienced labour pains.
Soon after the train halted at Jharsuguda station, the woman inspector Sabitri Bal found Kumari in extreme pain and decided to take her to hospital. Since no other vehicle was available, Bal took Kumari in a police control room (PCR) van.
Before they could reach the hospital, Kumari delivered a baby girl inside the vehicle under the supervision of Bal.
In a separate incident, a coronavirus disease (Covid-19) 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 by a quarantine centre to KIMS Covid-19 hospital on May 30 after she tested positive.
Though her expected delivery date was June 21, she went into labour on Thursday and delivered her baby.
