Prevented train mishap, got only Rs 5K!

Aksheev Thakur

New Delhi, December 8

The Railways has given a reward of Rs 5,000 to a 12-year-old boy from West Bengal for saving hundreds of lives.

Staying in a mud house at Jhangarpara village in Malda district of West Bengal, Mursalim Sheikh earned accolades for saving lives by waving his red t-shirt to stop the Silchar-bound Kanchanjungha Express when it was about to cross a damaged railway track in September.

Amitabh Mishra, Divisional Commercial Manager, Katihar, said, “We have given him Rs 5,000 but this shouldn’t be considered a mere monetary reward. It is a token amount that we have given the family. We also gave an appreciation certificate applauding his bravery and also assured him that his education will be taken care of by the Railways.”

A student of Class VI at a government school, Sheikh is the youngest of three siblings. His father, Mohammad Ismail, is a migrant worker in Gujarat and his mother, Marjina Bibi, works in a ‘bidi’ factory in West Bengal.

Fishing at some distance from the Bhaluka road station, Sheikh spotted that the track had no support beneath it. “I had gone fishing with 10 others. From a distance, I saw a crater under the track. When I saw the train approaching, I ran, took off my shirt and started waving at it to draw the attention of the loco pilot. On seeing me, the driver stopped the train,” Sheikh said.