A woman constable of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) helped a pregnant woman deliver her baby boy safely at the New Alipurduar railway station on Wednesday.
The woman and her newborn were later shifted to the local railway hospital. Both are doing well, doctors said.
Sources said that Neha Devi, a 26-year-old pregnant woman from Bihar, and her husband Rupesh were on board the Silchar-Coimbatore Express, headed for Bhagalpur. Around noon, as the train reached New Alipurduar station, Neha complained of acute labour pain, got off the train and somehow sat on a chair on platform No. 2 of the station.
As Neha's husband scouted around for medical help, realising that she would deliver the baby any time, Swapna Das, the head of women constables posted at the station, spotted the pregnant woman.
Swapna took Neha to a sleeper coach of the Calcutta-bound Teesta Torsa Express standing on platform No. 3. She informed her colleagues and took Neha to the toilet of a coach of the standing train. Her colleagues, in turn, informed the medical officers at the railway hospital.
But before they could reach the station, Swapna helped Neha deliver the baby with the help of other women staff of the RPF posted at the child helpdesk of the station.
The doctors reached the coach, examined the mother and the baby boy and shifted both to the railway hospital for observation and treatment.
“I will forever remain grateful to the lady constable. It is because of her that my wife delivered our baby safely,” Rupesh, the husband, said.
Senior railway officials commended Swapna. “The women staff of the RPF, especially Swapna Das, have done a commendable job,” said Amarjit Gautam, the divisional railway manager of the Alipurduar division of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR).
Chetan Srivastava, the general manager of the NFR, announced a cash reward of ₹25,000 for Swapna and three other women RPF staff.
The Teesta Torsa Express bound for Calcutta got delayed because of the incident. It left the New Alipurduar station around one hour and 20 minutes after its scheduled departure time, sources said.
Gaurs saved
Loco pilots of the Dhubri-Siliguri DEMU saved four gaurs (Indian bison) between Hasimara and Madarihat stations of Alipurduar on Tuesday evening.
Sources said that while the train was heading towards Siliguri, the loco pilots spotted the animals crossing the track. They pulled the brakes and managed to stop the train before it could hit the animals.