Hockey Legend Mohammad Shahid¡¯s Son Struggles To Get Back Railways Job

When the Indian hockey team won at the Tokyo Olympics, sports enthusiasts from Varanasi not only hailed the city lad Lalit Upadhyay, but also remembered a legend, Padma Shri late Mohammad Shahid . Shahid played an important role in India winning the 1980 hockey gold.

However, most are not aware that since the death of Shahid in 2016, his family has been in struggling to make ends meet.

According to a report in TOI, Parveen Shahid, wife of the legendary Olympian, is running from pillar to post to restore the job of her son, Mohammad Saif, in the Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW) in Varanasi, which he lost when he went on a long medical leave following alleged harassment at the hands of a senior officer at BLW.

Clarifying its stand, BLW said that Saif did not lodge any complaint with the authorities and stopped reporting for work due to which his removal was ordered. His application for reappointment is under consideration, it added.

TOI

Saif himself is a national-level shooter and participated a seniors' event in Bhopal in 2019.

He was given a job in BLW on February 3, 2017, on compassionate grounds following the death of Shahid, who was a sports officer (class 1) with the Railways in Varanasi.

¡°Saif was given a job which candidates join after completing a technical course. My son had just passed Class 12 and was not able to cope with the required three-year training for a job that was technical in nature. BLW is a very big establishment and my son could have been accommodated anywhere else. Even a clerical job would have been of great help to us,¡± Parveen said.

¡°We were going through a bad phase. I had lost my husband and I myself was not keeping well. BLW is quite far from our place and at times Saif used to get late. For this, he was constantly harassed by a senior officer. My son was too young to withstand the mental agony and proceeded on medical leave,¡± she said.

At present, the family is surviving on Mohd Shahid¡¯s pension.

Talking to TOI, Saif said: ¡°My training was going well but I could not continue it as I was being constantly harassed by an officer. I got so depressed that I stopped coming out of my room.¡±

PTI

Finally, he was removed from the post on February 19, 2019. ¡°My mother approached railway authorities for my transfer or accommodation in some other department or section. She even wrote to the Prime Minister (June 2019) and the railway minister but to no avail,¡± Saif claimed.

He said he approached the BLW authorities in November 2020 but could not pursue his case due to the coronavirus pandemic.

¡°I have applied for reinstatement in June this year. Authorities have informed me that my application is under consideration,¡± Saif added.

PRO, BLW, Rajesh Kumar said, ¡°Due procedure has been followed in the case of Mohd Saif. He has applied for reappointment and his application is being considered sympathetically. So far as the allegation of harassment is concerned, he did not lodge any complaint with BLW. Had he done so, proper inquiry and action would have followed.¡±

The family has also demanded that there should be a stadium after Shahid in Varanasi so that young players could draw inspiration from him.

Former international hockey player and UP sports director RP Singh said though it was a matter related to the railways, he had talked to officials in the past who claimed that the boy left the job of his own will and would have to acquire the required skill set to continue.

¡°Mohd Shahid was like an elder brother to me. We got a stadium constructed in his name and started a tournament after him. So far as the job is concerned, the family will have to make a decision,¡± he said.