Boatman saves infant, to be feted by Uttar Pradesh

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 17

Little would have Ghazipur boatman Gullu Chaudhary thought that his instinctive act of saving a newborn girl floating in a box along the Ganga would catapult him into a social media sensation overnight.

For him, it was a routine day like any other on the banks of Dadrighat in Ghazipur when he spotted a decorated box in the river, a baby’s cries emanating from inside. The Ghazipur district authorities say there were many bystanders along the banks who also heard the infant’s whimpers. But it was Gullu who jumped into the Ganga and brought the child to safety.

Geeta Shrivastava, convener of the district child welfare committee, today said the child had now been placed for care at the sick newborn care unit in the Ghazipur district hospital and would now be under the protection of the state.

Gullu, meanwhile, said he would have liked to adopt the girl. “I have a daughter and two sons. I could have taken care of the child, but the district child welfare officers have taken her to the hospital,” said the boatman. UP CM Yogi Adityanath hailed Gullu for his act and said, “As a gesture of gratitude to the boatman, the UP Government will make him a beneficiary in all its government-run schemes.”