New Delhi/Bareilly, April 15 (IANS) Volleyball player Arunima Sinha was Thursday offered a job by the Indian Railways three days after she lost a leg when she was pushed out of a running train for resisting a robbery. The sports ministry, which had offered her a paltry Rs.25,000 compensation, hiked this to Rs.2 lakh following an outcry.

The Indian Railways also offered Sinha "all financial assistance" and a suitable job to her.

"We are quite serious about rehabilitation of the athlete. All financial assistance will be given, it includes a suitable job," Railway Board chairman Vivek Sahai told reporters in New Delhi.

Sounding relieved by the sports ministry's hiked compensation, Sinha said from her hospital bed in Bareilly city that she felt like a beggar when they announced Rs.25,000 compensation for her.

"I felt like a beggar, it would have been like a charity," she said.

A national level player, Sinha said she was satisfied and thankful for the job offer.

"They understood my feelings. I am satisfied, my main aim was that I get a job; if government gives me a job, I will be very thankful," she said.

The job offer however will not decrease the pain of losing her career as a volleyball player, she said.

"My dream will never come true, but all I want is to be strong and not to be a burden on anyone," she said.

Sinha was pushed out of the general compartment of Padmawati Express near Bareilly city in Uttar Pradesh for resisting a chain-snatching attempt by some hoodlums late Monday, while travelling from Lucknow to Delhi.

Her left leg came under the wheels of another train passing on the parallel rail track and she also sustained serious head injuries. Railway police carried her to the local district hospital where she lay injured, traumatized and unconscious until Wednesday morning when she narrated her tale.

Ironically she was travelling to Delhi to appear in an examination to get a job in the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

"I had stepped out of my home in Ambedkar Nagar in search of a job, which has now come on a platter, albeit after a major tragedy. But that does not mean the end of my story. I would wish to urge the police administration not to become complacent; instead they must aggressively get on to the trail of the culprits," she said.

She also said she wants the culprits caught and punished.

"While I am extremely grateful to the Railways for showing such a humane gesture, I would still like to pursue my war against the injustice meted out to me by a group of vandals," she told reporters. She was admitted to hospital with multiple injuries, including a broken right leg and an amputated left lower limb.

"If such people are free, what happened with me could happen with others. A officer is needed in every rail bogey," she said.

"Because I am a sports player, I fought them, no one could take away my things so easily, it was my bad luck that I fell off the train, had they not pushed me...." she added.

Sahai said Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is busy in campaigning for West Bengal assembly elections, has expressed her concerns over the "unfortunate incident" and ordered the authorities to provide all possible financial assistance to the athlete.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party said that it held Banerjee and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati responsible for the incident.

"We hold both Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati responsible for this utter disgusting incident. It's a shame on this country. How can we have a woman sportsperson lying on the tracks unattended for more than six hours. We demand the railways to come up with an immediate explanation," BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said in New Delhi.

"The BJP demands both Mamata Banerjee and Kumari Mayawati respond on this matter because law and order in Uttar Pradesh has deteriorated so much that women are not safe," she said.