Woman offered job after failed suicide bid

A drunk, unemployed woman tried to commit suicide by lying on the tracks at the Saphale railhead near Palghar on Tuesday morning.

A drunk, unemployed woman tried to commit suicide by lying on the tracks at the Saphale railhead near Palghar on Tuesday morning. The motorman of a Dahanu local that had stopped at the station, however, spotted her in time and alerted the police.

Usha Dashrath Mhaskar, 55, has been living with her married daughter in Saphale, after her husband’s death.She was an alcoholic and would do odd jobs to make enough money to buy herself country liquor every day, the police said.

When we questioned her, Mhaskar told us she wasn’t getting a job because of her age and had decided to end her life, said API Mansinh Patil from the Saphale police station.

“When the motorman alerted the RPF and GRP personnel, they tried to convince her to get off the tracks, but she was adamant and had to be forcibly taken away,” said Patil.

The Saphale police chief has now offered her a temporary job as a sweeper at the station. “We gave her a sari and some food while she waited for her daughter,” said another official. Her son-in-law told the police they looked after her well, but she wanted to earn extra to drink daily.