2 women stuck in traffic deliver babies on road

The nightmarish traffic snarls in the national capital on account of the India-Africa Summit forced two women to deliver their children in public vehicles on Thursday. A 20-year-old woman gave birth to a girl on a public bus near Southeast Delhi’s Sarai Kale Khan area while a 28-year- old woman delivered a baby boy on an autorickshaw near East Delhi’s Khajoori Chowk.

In both cases, the pregnant women were stuck in heavy traffic. The police later said they had tried their best to keep the traffic moving and cause minimum inconvenience to commuters by making elaborate arrangements. “Things went a little out of hand in the evening peak hours. However, we did our best to manage traffic in the city,” said joint commissioner of police (traffic), Sandeep Goel.

A police team turned out to be the saviour for Rekha and her newborn girl, delivered inside a public bus near Sarai Kale Khan, by rushing them to the hospital amid chaotic traffic on Thursday night.

Rekha and her husband Kamlesh are from Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh. They were going back to their village for Rekha’s delivery and were to take a train from Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station. They had boarded a public bus from Gurgaon to Sarai Kale Khan ISBT.

However, Rekha’s water broke inside the bus as it crawled at a snail’s pace in Thursday’s congested traffic and the child was delivered then and there on the road, said the police.

In the second instance, Roshni (28) gave birth to a boy in an autorickshaw while caught in traffic for close to four hours on a day which had seen restrictions in place for the India-Africa summit.