Author: Express News Service
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: September 10, 2006
URL: http://cities.expressindia.com/archivefullstory.php?newsid=200680&creation_date=2006-09-10
Introduction: 54 women applicants, appointment
letters by month-end. But all are 'D' category posts of peons, sweepers, water
carriers with monthly salary of Rs 2,500-Rs 3,200
Nearly two months after Terror Tuesday, Sandhya
Naik (35) finds herself at a crossroad, not knowing in which direction life
will take her. The 7/11 blast left her a widow, and young son Bittu fatherless.
Now, she passes the days at her modest Virar
residence, remembering husband Ranjan, and waiting for a call from the Western
Railways for the job that Railway Minister Laloo Yadav grandly promised to
the family members of the blast victims.
A railway spokesperson said 84 of the 187
families have written back asking for a job-54 of the applicants are women.
That includes Shagufta Sheikh (36) who lost
husband Aejaz to the Borivali blast. Shagufta's immediate worry is holding
on to her Mira Road flat that Aejaz purchased 3 years ago by taking a Rs 2.81
lakh housing loan.
Brother-in-law Feroze says, ''HDFC has been
writing to her about defaults on EMIs.'' Shagufta has a year-old son Anam
and a 10-year-old girl Affan as well as Aejaz's old parents to take care of
and says she will do whatever work comes her way-even a sweeper's.
For, irrespective of the applicant's qualifications,
all the jobs that the railways will hand out are in the 'D' category, covering
posts like peons, sweepers and water carriers. They will bring a monthly pay
of Rs 2500-3200.
A hesitant Sandhya, a commerce graduate, deliberated
about applying for a 'D' category job with the railways for almost three weeks.
''But then, I finally completed the application form and sent it,'' she says.
But railway spokesperson Pranai Prabhakar
offers consolation. ''Once an employee, the kin can take internal exams after
3-5 years and rise to a clerical grade and higher. It happens all the time
in the railways.''
The railways hasn't handed out any letters
of appointment yet. A senior official in the personnel department said, ''We
hope to do that by September-end. We are currently assessing the genuineness
of the claimants to avoid future complications.''
While the specified age category for the jobs
is from 18 to 33 years, the Western Railway says its Board will try and get
around that rule to accommodate 7/11 families.
But 38-year-old widow Kakoli Bhajan, who has
lost her husband Asim, a forex dealer, has been a housewife all her life.
She thinks a job in the railways would be her best bet in starting out afresh.
''I have been told that I am too old to apply.'' Kakoli is unsure of what
to do next.
Kalyani Mukhopadyay, a Political Science post-graduate
who lost her engineer husband to the blast is warm to the idea of starting
at the bottom of the railway's workforce, and in her mid-40s is too old to
apply.
Also a housewife who has to ensure her two
school-going daughters an education, Kalyani is realising the job market holds
few prospects. ''I would rather work in the Shipping Corporation of India
where Pinaki worked (as a senior employee). I can perhaps work in some clerical
post. I need to do something that I can balance with my duties as a single
parent.''
But a SCI spokesperson said: ''By mutual agreement
with our employee fora, we have ended the compensatory job measure. So it
will not be possible.''
