Three years on, Metro accident survivor still looking for job

Three years after she lost both her legs in a freak metro accident in Delhi in 2010, Mehjabi, 25, is still looking for a regular source of income, Rhythma Kaul reports.

Three years after she lost both her legs in a freak metro accident in Delhi in 2010, Mehjabi, 25, is still looking for a regular source of income.

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“I have to come to Delhi almost every other month to help in investigations or to submit documents for my court hearings,” she said, while on a visit to Delhi last month.

“It is a long journey from Dehradun to Delhi, so at least one person has to accompany me on my trip. I cannot return immediately due to my condition, so I need to take a day's rest between both journeys. A single trip costs me at least Rs. 5,000 and I have no job," she added.

Her right leg had been amputated from above the knee and the left one from a few inches below the knee. Her eyes fill with tears while recalling those painful 60 minutes when she lay helplessly on the metro track under a train on March 26, 2010.

A Dehradun-based trainee journalist, Mehjabi was waiting to board the metro at Rajiv Chowk station when it happened. She was the first one in the queue. The train must have been some 20 metres away when a man, who was in a hurry to board the train, accidentally pushed her from behind. She slipped on to the metro track with the train running over her.

The Delhi Metro authorities claimed they had borne her medical expenses but had never promised her a job. "We did bear the medical expenses and paid for the artificial limbs. The Indian make wasn't very comfortable so we are giving her an additional R 4 lakh to buy imported ones," Anuj Dayal, spokesperson, DMRC said.

A government official said the girl was given best possible health facilities after the accident.