Migrant Worker Trying To Reach Bengal From UP Delivers Twin Girls On Bus, Both Didn't Survive
Life has been tough for the millions of migrant workers across the country, in the past two months since India went into lockdown on March 25.A majority of them are currently in their homes or a quarantine facility in their hometown after they returned from the cities.?
There are still a few who stayed back in the cities who are struggling to survive without jobs or income and facing an uncertain future.Then there are others who are still on the roads, trying desperately to reach homes, on foot, on cycles, buses or trucks.
In the past two months there have been a flurry of stories about their anguish, despair and even deaths.Fatima Bi, a migrant worker from Cooch Behar district of West Bengal has one such heart wrenching story.?
The woman who was six months pregnant was trying to reach her hometown from Hapur district of Uttar Pradesh where she and her husband used to work in a brick kiln.After the brick kiln shut down during the lockdown, they applied online to return home with the assistance of the government but did not get any response.?
So the couple along with 42 other people paid Rs 1.2 lakh to hire a bus to reach their homes.But while the bus in which she was travelling, was passing through the Bareilly district Fatima went into labour and delivered twin girls on the bus.
When Fatima's condition deteriorated, the couple was dropped off by the bus driver on National Highway 24 in the Bithri Chainpur area of Bareilly.The bus driver, however, refused to wait and left for the destination with other passengers.The woman and her twin daughters were taken to the the district hospital and before reaching there both the babies had died.?
"The woman had already delivered twins on the bus and both of them had died when she reached here. Her condition is stable but she is upset. She was only six months pregnant. Her samples would be sent for Covid-19 tests as she was travelling from another district and may have been exposed to the infection." Dr. Varsha Agarwal of the district hospital said.?
In a similar incident on Friday, another migrant woman had delivered a pair of twin boys at Sirathu in Kaushambhi district in a Shramik Special train that was on its way to Varanasi from Vapi in Gujarat.However, the newborn twins died hours later after they were born and rushed to a primary health centre for treatment. The woman was was eight-months pregnant.
