Patna: Authorities in Bihar have decided to reward the 12-year-old schoolboy who saved the lives of hundreds of passengers by making a speeding passenger train halt before it could cross over the broken railway track. The reward could be in the form of cash or citation.
Bhim Yadav, a Grade 5 student, showed exemplary bravery and made the train driver unaware of the impending danger ahead stop the train on the track in West Champaran district, flagging his red shirt while himself shivering in biting cold.
“That is indeed a brave act. We are going to reward him for his bravery, which saved the lives of passengers. The reward could be in form of cash or citation. We are still deciding over it but one thing is sure, he is going to be rewarded,” the local district education officer Harendra Jha told the Gulf News over phone on Wednesday.
He said he came to know about his bravery through newspapers and was intimating the officials too about Yadav’s valour.
The railways, too, are planning to accord similar hero welcome to the boy. “We really are proud of this boy and salute his bravery,” chief public relations officer of the East Central Railways Rajesh Kumar told the Gulf News.
The schoolboy, who studies in a government middle school at Mangalpur, was headed towards his orchards when he detected the railway track broken on the Gorakhpur-Narkatiaganj railway line and ran on the tracks, flagging his shirt to make the speeding train halt instantly and the save the lives of passengers.
Reports said initially, the driver could not understand what was happening but when the boy went on furiously flagging his red shirt, the driver applied the emergency brake and stopped the train midway. It was then that the driver came to know about the impending danger ahead.
The boy said he had heard the bravery of children in the areas and wanted to do something so that the people could talk about him too.
“Once I had visited a relative in the nearby village where the people were talking about a bravery of a boy. I too wanted to do something so that the society could discuss about him as well. I am happy to save the lives of the passengers,” the boy told the local media.
