A 14-year-old boy from Kamuthakudi in Ramanathapuram district, who was presumed lost, was reunited with his parents here on Thursday. According to C. Jim Jesudoss, chairperson of Child Welfare Committee (CWC), K. Murugan was taken away from Kamuthakudi by his relative to work in a bag manufacturing unit in Andhra Pradesh when he was eight years old. His parents, who did not lodge any complaint with the police, searched for him at several places. The search was given up after the boy was presumed lost. Meanwhile, the child worker was rescued by the Nellore CWC and admitted to the local National Child Labour Project school. When he recollected his visit to Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple in Madurai, the Nellore CWC shifted him to the Madurai CWS on April 9, which kept him in Sakthi Vidiyal Reception Home.
Ironically, even after reaching Madurai, the boy, who remembered his home town, could not converse in Tamil and was able to communicate only in Telugu. The Madurai CWC passed an order asking Childline to track his family in Kamuthakudi. Madurai Childline contacted Ramanathapuram Childline and found the family in Kamuthakudi. The identity of the boy was established through the ration card and school photograph available with the family, “It was a joyous and emotional reunion, though we had to utilise the services of a translator to establish communication between the boy and his parents,” said Mr. Jim Jesudoss.
