Amid the Corona pandemic, there comes a mood-refreshing development for the new parents who delivered their child on Shramik special trains. In a heartwarming gesture, the East Coast Railway has decided to sponsor gifts or cash to the children born on board Shramik Special trains on its network.

Since May 1, the day when Indian Railways flagged off Migrant's rescue mission with Shramik Special Trains, as many as 37 children have been born on route or on the railway's premises. Indian Railways considers this as a very good and auspicious omen.

Following the beliefs, ECoR General Manager, Vidya Bhushan, on Friday announced that officials of the railway zone, on a personal and voluntary basis, will sponsor a gift coupon to the newborn babies in the jurisdiction of the zone.

Vidya Bhushan encouraged others when he himself sponsored Rs 5,000 to the mother of a child born on Friday, which was the third child born in the zone so far. Of the three babies, two were born at Titilagarh and one at Balangir. That means all three are from Odisha’s Bolangir district.

Influenced by the move, other senior officials have also come forward to sponsor gift items in subsequent cases, if any, of babies born in Shramik Special trains.

The geographical jurisdiction of the ECoR zone extends over three states - Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. While all of the Odisha is covered under the network of ECoR, Chhattisgarh's two districts Mahasamund & Dantewada; and Andhra Pradesh's Srikakulam district fall's under ECoR's coverage. The zonal headquarters is at Bhubaneswar. The zone has three divisions-- Sambalpur, Khurda Road and Waltair.

Meanwhile, the Indian Railway last week brought a new appeal and requested that people with co-morbidities and other vulnerabilities should refrain from travelling in trains unless it is essential, as the corona pandemic is continuously evolving, infecting hundred within 24 hours.