AP native to reunite with family after two months 

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The city will play host to a beautiful reunion on Monday as 62-year old Gudivada native Abdul Sathar will get reunited with his family, after two months of being lost. It was on January 5 that the National Helpline for Senior Citizens received a distress call saying an elderly person was seen abandoned in the city. The call arrived from Indus Service Centre, Kumarapuram, where the elderly person was seen sitting, all lost. 

“We got the call from the service centre saying an elderly person who appeared healthy  was seen sitting in their compound for a long time, looking lost. We reached the spot and the person could only talk in Hindi and Telugu. He had suffered from an incidence of stroke and could not speak properly,” says Aswathy L, field response officer of Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam. 

By contacting their colleague in Telangana who spoke in Telugu with him over the phone, the team could understand a little bit about Abdul’s whereabouts.  After understanding that the person belonged to Gudivada in Vijayawada, they shared his details to the respective area and the family was traced in a matter of two-and-a-half hours. 

“On the advice of Shynimol, district social justice officer, Abdul was moved to the shelter home of the corporation. He will be there until he is reunited with the family,” says Aswathy. The team which conducted the rescue operation included Aswathy and Vishal P Thomas, the field response leader of the unit. 

Abdul Sathar has been missing for the past two months and the family had filed a man missing complaint at the police station. “Abdul who is also having slight memory issues believes that his family is missing and was in search of them,” says Aswathy.