8-year-old united with family after 13 months

Thirteen months after he had gone missing from Assam and accidentally landed at Kalupur railway station, an 8-year-old boy is set to be reunited with his loved ones on Friday. The boy was kept at a children's home in Bopal and was able to recognise his parents during a video call on Wednesday. He will return to his native on Friday morning thanks to TV journalists who came down from Assam and reported about the boy that helped in tracking down his parents from a remote village.

Found at railway station

The boy Bikash Koibotro Das was found by railway police at Kalupur station one late evening on April 10 last year. He was handed over to an NGO working for the welfare of children. After due process of law, he was sent to Apna Ghar, a children's home in Bopal and he started living there.

Officials at the children's home started counselling the boy and tried to extract names of his family members and the state he belonged to. They were able to find that the boy hailed from Assam, but the NGO couldn't trace his parents despite informing the police and other authorities.

Last week, state BJP secretary Pradipsinh Vaghela had visited the NGO. He was told that the boy hailed from Assam. Vaghela then called Assam's Finance Minister Hemant Biswa Sarma and apprised him about the boy. Sarma approached a local television channel and requested them to run footages of the boy. Two journalists of the local TV channel came down to the city on Tuesday and telecast the news live on Wednesday afternoon. Soon after a family approached the channel that Bikash was their son who had gone missing a year ago. His father's name is Prabhat Koibotro Das and mother's name was Poornima. They earn their livelihood by doing labour work.

On Wednesday night the team from the television channel went to Dimo village of Hajo taluka in Kamrup rural district and connected his parents with the boy through a video call. The boy recognised his parents who too were thrilled to see him after long. Since the family is very poor and unable to bear the expenses of travel back to his native, the journalists will accompany the boy back home. "We are delighted that the boy will be reunited with his family and we thank the leaders and television channel. We have completed all legal procedures and the boy will be sent back to his native village with the journalists," said Vinod Dabhi, a caretaker of the NGO.