‘Had no time to think, I saw him fall on tracks and ran’: Central Railway pointsman who saved 6-year-old boy

The Indian Railways has given me so much and what I did was just a part of my dutyrdquo pointsman Mayur Sakharam Shelke 30 humbly told Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on the phone when the latter called to congratulate him for his good deedVisually impaired Sangeeta Arjun Shirsat with her son SahilldquoWhat Mayur has done is beyond any award cash prize or certificate though we will do our responsibility and give him the highest honour But saving a life and making humanity proud he has won the hearts of the entire Indian Railwaysrsquo fraternity by saving the child and putting his own life at stake No words will be enough to congratulate himrdquo Goyal saidOn Monday afternoon when Shelke walked into the Mumbai CSMT divisional head office to meet Divisional Railway Manager Shalbh Goel for his felicitation he was welcomed with a standing ovation from the employees thereShelke showed exemplary courage when he saved the life of a sixyearold boy Sahil Arjun Shirsat who was at the Vangani station with his visually impaired mother Sangeeta Arjun Shirsat 35 on Saturday Sahil was walking on platform No 2 with his mother around 625 pm when he slipped off and fell on the tracks coming in the way of speeding Udyan ExpressPointsman Mayur Sakharam ShelkeShelke who was on the platform to give a lineclear exchange flag immediately rushed towards the approaching train picked up Sahil tossed him on the platform and climbed up in the nick of time The entire episode captured on the CCTV camera at the station manager officersquos shows everything that happened within just 13 seconds According to the footage Shelke saved Sahil within 11 seconds of his fall and he himself climbed up within the next two secondsldquoNo one will dare to do what Mayur has done Hats off to himrdquo said GoelCanrsquot thank him enoughRecounting the incident the mother said when Sahil fell on the tracks she couldnt think what to do and there no one seemed to be around I was very scared And suddenly out of nowhere this man came and rescued my son He put his own life in danger for my son It is because of him that my son is standing next to me today My sixyearold child is my only support and I thank him from the bottom of my heartrdquo said SangeetaMayur Shelke QAShelke who originally belongs to Talawde near Neral joined the Railways in March 2016 He is a graduate in Bachelor of Arts and works as a pointsman He was earlier posted at Karjat station and has been working at Vangani station for the past eight months He got married a year agoWhat happenedI was getting ready to flag off the BangaloreMumbai Udyan Express when I saw the visuallyimpaired woman with her son As the speeding train approached the station the child slipped and fell on the tracks I sprinted for 100 metres picked him up and climbed onto the platform just before the train passed byFirst thoughtsThere were no thoughts I saw the kid falling and the train speeding towards him There was no chance he would have lived had I not intervenedBit of fearFrankly there was a bit of a fear factor at first as it was an express train that runs on very high speed But there was no time to think at all I was determined to save him