Lalu acts as Samaritan for Abdul Hameed's family

New Delhi, Aug 31 (UNI) Barely a month after providing jobs to two fourth generation descendants of Tantya Tope, a frontline martyr of the 1857 Uprising, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today acted as the Samaritan for the family of Havildar Abdul Hameed, a valiant martyr of the 1965 Indo-Pak War.

Mr Prasad announced that the Railways had offered job to Jamil Alam, grandson of Abdul Hameed, who is firmly ensconced in the military folklores for destroying the much-trumpeted American Patton tanks during the 1965 War and was awarded posthumously Paramvir Chakra for his exceptional exploits on the war front.

The minister gave the appointment letter to Hameed's 80-year-old widow Rasoolan Biwi on behalf of her grandson.

Jamil Alam has been offered the post of Electrical Signal Manager (ESM), a Group 'C' skilled post in Northern Railway.

Incidentally, Jamil's father Juned Alam, son of Abdul Hameed, was offered job in the Railways six years ago by the then Railway Minister Nitish Kumar.

Choked with emotions, Ms Biwi said, ''I feel the long long years of my penury are over...Aaj mera pet bhar gaya hai (the days of starvation are now a matter of the past.'' Ms Biwi said she had gone to Patna ten years ago and was treated with dignity by Mr Prasad. ''Other leaders there just turned me away from their gates, But Mr Lalu Prasad was the only leader who treated me with honour. So long I am alive, my blessings are with him,'' she told reporters.

She said she would always remain thankful to the Railway Minister for providing job to her unemployed grandson, which would help her family overcome extreme hardship.

UNI