Belal Hossain: 27 years as an unpaid railway gatekeeper

For 27 years, 65-year-old grocer Belal Hossain has voluntarily guarded an unmanned railway crossing near his shop in Lalmonirhat, stopping traffic whenever a train approaches -- without a single day of pay, an appointment letter, or any government recognition.

Hossain spends most of his day at his small grocery store beside the tracks in Khochabari Masterpara, but the moment he hears a train's whistle in the distance, he rushes to the crossing to halt vehicles and pedestrians until it passes safely, then returns to his shop -- a routine he has repeated daily for nearly three decades along a stretch of railway connecting Lalmonirhat to Burimari via Aditmari, Kaliganj, and Hatibandha, a route that sees multiple passenger trains daily and where the slightest lapse in vigilance could prove fatal. Locals say the crossing lacks a permanent gatekeeper, forcing residents to cross the tracks at their own risk by rickshaw, van, motorcycle, and on foot -- a risk Hossain has quietly taken it upon himself to manage.

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"I don't do this for a salary or any benefits," Hossain said. "I've been helping people cross safely for years now. Whenever I hear a train is coming, I leave the shop and go to the gate. I want to keep doing this for as long as I can." Residents credit him with preventing what could otherwise be a steady stream of accidents, and are now calling on Bangladesh Railway to appoint a permanent gatekeeper at the site while formally recognising Hossain's decades of unpaid service. Mohammad Taslim Ahmed Khan, Lalmonirhat's Divisional Railway Manager, said when contacted that the process of appointing a gatekeeper at the crossing was currently underway.