KORAPUT: Separated from their parents 12 years ago near Coimbatore, two siblings were reunited with their family from Upper Jamuguda village under Bandhugaon block of Koraput district in what can be described as a miracle of sorts.
The reunion took place at the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) office in Koraput on Monday, bringing tears of joy to family members and villagers alike.
According to CWC chairperson Gayatri Devi, Jamuguda native Dalia Kulasika had travelled with his son and daughter from Rayagada railway station to meet his wife, Tulsi, who was then working as a migrant labourer near Coimbatore.
While travelling towards Coimbatore after getting down at a nearby railway station, Dalia reportedly met with an accident after falling from an autorickshaw. He was shifted to a nearby hospital and regained consciousness three days later, only to discover to his utter shock that his two minor children had gone missing.
Since Dalia was unfamiliar with the local language and did not know his way around, he struggled for several days. After 16 days, he eventually managed to return to Bandhugaon. Later, his wife also returned home with the help of a migrant labour contractor. The parents lodged a missing complaint at the Bandhugaon police station. However, there was no trace of the children, who were then aged four and five.
Gayatri Devi said the children were later rescued by Childline workers in Tamil Nadu and taken to a child care institution. Unaware of their fate, the brother and sister stayed at the child care home and pursued their studies in an English-medium school.
By a stroke of luck, in 2019, an Aadhaar card belonging to Dalia was reportedly found in the bag of one of the children, following which the child care institution contacted the Koraput District Child Protection Unit and requested it to trace the parents. The process of verification and case documentation began then and reached its logical conclusion only recently.
After detailed field verification by the Koraput administration, the Child Welfare Committee, accompanied by the superintendent of the child care institution and Tamil Nadu police, arrived in Koraput to formally hand over the children to their parents at the CWC office. However, why the process took seven years could not be established.
Sources said the children are now fluent in English and Tamil but are unable to speak their native Kui dialect. Though they recognised their parents, the siblings, now in their teens, faced difficulty communicating due to the language barrier.
While interacting with this paper, the children expressed their desire to continue their education in an English-medium school. At present, they are students of Classes IX and X.
The CWC chairperson said necessary steps for their education and rehabilitation would be taken as per the directions of the district administration and the district collector.