CHENNAI: A 23-year-old man who was injured in an accident and suffered memory loss due to the shock, was rescued by ‘Kaaval Karangal’, an integrated initiative to help destitute and abandoned people in the city. On June 12, a man in his mid 20s, with deep open injuries in his knees, was found lying half-naked under the Peters Road flyover in Royapettah.
The information was passed to ‘Kaaval Karangal’ control room. Four days later, he recovered his memory, and it became known that he is Jaffar Ali, aged 23, from Assam. The integrated scheme of connecting volunteers, Corporation staff and people of other helplines made it easier to send people on ground instantly to rescue Jaffar Ali.
“Clement and Senthil Kumar from volunteer groups took the man to Royapettah Government Hospital, where his knee injuries were treated,” said MS Baskar, Assistant Commissioner of Police, PRO. Jaffar Ali was sent to a home run for mentally unstable people and it was there that the young man opened up about his horrifying ordeal. Ali, who had studied till Class 10, was working at a steel manufacturing unit in Nagercoil. In March, an accident occurred at the unit and his knee was injured. Ali, who found himself alone at a hospital, also had temporary memory loss due to the shock.
He escaped from the hospital and boarded a train to Chennai with his injured knee. Unable to walk, he had dragged himself all the way from Egmore to Royapettah where he found a resting place under the flyover. He was surviving with food packets provided by volunteers, said a police officer. When volunteers rescued him, he was afraid and kept moving away, said police. Though he could not remember the contact number of his family, he had informed the police that he was from a village in Baksha district in Assam.
His family was quickly identified and the Chennai police contacted them. His brother Ismail Ali reached Chennai on Thursday and returned home with Jaffar. The Chennai city police Commissioner Shankar Jiwal appreciated the efforts of the volunteers Senthil Kumar, Clement and Rabeeya and provided food and clothes to the Ali brothers for their safe travel. The Chennai city police has launched the ‘Kaaval Karangal’ initiative to help abandoned elderly and destitutes with integrated services provided by the Chennai Corporation, Social Welfare Department, old age homes and NGOs.
Khaki to the rescue
The ‘Kaaval Karangal’ initiative was started in 15 March
Data until June 17:
Received 352 calls
Rescued 302 people
260 were sent to homes
24 undergoing treatments for various ailments
18 provided counselling and reunited with family
6 missing people were identified