Mournful Eid for family of polio worker crushed by train

Family demands govt pay compensation and help victim’s handicapped husband take care of their two children

PESHAWAR: For seven-year-old Sudais, this was supposed to be a joyous Eidul Fitr, one where he would pick out his own outfit along with his mother.

But that joy turned to grief when he saw his mother, a polio worker, get crushed by a train while trying to save him.

Sudais, his eight-year-old older sister Mahnoor, his mother Nargis and father Sadarat Khan lived in the Afghan Colony in Peshawar near Hashtnagri.

Soon after their marriage, Sadarat was handicapped and could no longer support his family. Nargis’ brother Roohullah told The Express Tribune that he used to support his sister’s family through the difficult time.

Three years ago, Roohullah said that his sister got a job with the provincial health department as a polio worker. Nargis then became the main breadwinner for her family and completely took on the responsibilities of her family.

With Eidul Fitr almost upon them, Nargis decided to complete eid shopping for the family last week. She took seven-year-old Sudais with her so that he could pick out an eid dress which he liked.

Waiting at the Hashtnagri railway crossing, Sudais suddenly got away from Nargis and ventured near the train tracks. As the whistles from the onrushing train grew louder, it alarmed Nargis who lunged to move Sudais away from the tracks to safety.

While she managed to push Sudais away, she was caught by the train engine. The force of the impact killed her instantly.

Roohullah said that Nargis had struggled to earn a living for her family and to give them a good life. Not even threats, owing to her job as a polio worker, could keep her down.

“There is no safety wall around the railway track in Peshawar,” complained Roohullah as he cried over the loss of his sister.

“Several lives have been lost due to it [absence of a fence around the train tracks]. We demand that the provincial and the federal governments to help the family of the deceased polio worker and so that her widowed husband with disabilities can carry his family’s burden,” Roohullah told The Express Tribune.

Commenting on the accident, a source in the Pakistan Railways department in Peshawar chose to level blame on encroachment around the tracks.

“We have carried out several operations against the encroachments in the provincial capital, but several land mafia groups regained [possession of] it after the operation,” the official said.

“The illegal constructions along the railway tracks in Peshawar have disturbed the railway traffic,” he noted, adding that residential facilities built near the railway tracks have also claimed as many as 18 lives in the past few months alone.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5^th, 2019.