Migrant woman travelling to UP in truck gives birth on roadside

As Deepa started suffering from labour pain, her husband stopped the truck and the woman had to deliver the baby on the roadside in Madhya Pradesh's Barwani district  

Barwani: A 30-year old woman who was traveling from Mumbai to Uttar Pradesh in a truck with her migrant labourer husband gave birth to a baby boy in Madhya Pradesh's Barwani district, an official said on Tuesday.

The woman, named Deepa, began to have labour pains so her husband had the truck stopped at Balsamud Barrier on the intervening night of May 10 and 11, said a local official.

The family was on the way to Bahraich in UP with other migrant labourers amid the lockdown.

Dr Faizal Ali, a physician based in Ojhar, said he rushed to the spot upon being informed, only to find that the woman had already delivered a baby by the side of Mumbai-Agra Highway (NH-3).

He then took the woman to the Ojhar primary health centre in an ambulance, Dr Ali said, adding that the baby was healthy and weighed around 3.4 kg.

Achhevar Lal, the woman's husband, said he decided to leave Mumbai as he was jobless since the last week of March.

He asked the truck driver to stop as his wife was in unbearable pain and she delivered by the roadside, he said, adding that other women in the truck did not offer any help though the group halted its journey.

The couple already has two daughters, aged three years and one-and-a-half years.

The woman and the baby were discharged from the hospital on Monday morning as other travelers in the truck said they wanted to resume the journey, Dr Ali said.