Bengal kid gets rewarded for averting major train accident, but too little and too late

Mursalim Sheikh, a 12-year-old kid from Malda, West Bengal, averted a major train accident and saved the lives of hundreds of passengers on September 24, reported India Today.

What

• Sheikh alerted the loco-pilot of the Agartala-bound Kanchanjungha Express approaching fast towards the Bhaluka Road station on a track that had earth and stones eroded beneath the track on Sunday (September 24).
• While the kid's display of alertness was hailed by the villagers, the Railway's delayed and forced appreciation of the same wasn't expected.

In an area infamous for the vandalisation of railway property, there was no acknowledgement for Mursalim, who did not hesitate to unfurl his red T-shirt to signal STOP.

Reward?

• The Railways, in their supposed generosity, offered a token of appreciation, a paltry sum of Rs 1,500, which barely scratches the surface.
• Mursalim and his mother, with his father away working as a migrant worker in Gujarat, even acknowledged the delayed appreciation.

Why the delay?

• The Maligaon-based North-East Frontier Railway acknowledged the 12-year-old hero's actions, only after reportedly denying it twice.
• He said, "A 12-year-old child in Malda waved his red shirt at the train, due to which the loco-pilot applied emergency brakes and stopped the passenger train. The child did this because the railway track was damaged due to heavy rains."
• They claimed that the railway staff had spotted the track first and informed the authorities. The NFR (spokesperson) stuck to their version of the story, twice, before mending ways.

Paltry reward

• Finally, on Monday, the Katihar Divisional Railway Manager, along with Maldaha Uttar MP Khagen Murmu, arrived at Mursalim's village, Jhangarpara, to present a certificate and an award of Rs 1,500, signalling official recognition.
• However, for many in the village and afar, this reward seems woefully insufficient, especially given Mursalim's family conditions.