Union Minister of State for Railways Ram Naik said in a press statement that though the loss suffered by Ashar cannot be compensated, he felt satisfied that she could atleast be given employment. Ashar had called on the Minister in May 1999 and informed him that she had cleared her Bachelor of Commerce examinations.

On October 26, 1998, Ashar was pushed out of the train at Charni Road after a scuffle with an alleged drug addict, while the other women in her compartment merely looked on. Ashar was elated at having got a job with the Western Railway. Her office is on the ground floor of the WR headquarters at Churchgate. ``I travel in a bus, which I get right in front of my house, to office,'' she said. The first remark she heard when she entered her workplace on June 29 removed any misgivings she may have had over being accepted byher colleagues. ``They all came forward and said, `Welcome to Western Railway'; I knew it would be like home,'' she said.

The Railway Ministry conferred Jaybala with the Veerbala Award for her bravery.