Father ends search for missing son

Idukki: It was exactly a year ago that Shanmughanadan’s sons Dineshkumar (22) and Nithish Kumar (20) went to Pettimudy to celebrate a friend’s birthday. It was the last time that he saw his sons.
Though Nitish’s body was retrieved the next day, Dinesh’s body has not yet been located and Shanmughanadan had been in a desperate search for his son’s body. But on Thursday, he said he is ending the search.
For six months after the landslip at Pettimudy, even after authorities winded up search operations he travelled 23km almost every day from Munnar to the landslide site and searched among the rubbles for his missing son. He refused to conduct the rituals usually held 40 days after the death for his son but last week his mind finally accepted the truth, he says.
"I went to Rameshwaram and performed all the rituals. He will not come back nor there is any chance of getting his body," he says, adding that he will reach Pettimudy on Friday to perform some rites on the mass graveyard built for the victims to mark the first anniversary of the tragedy.
Shanmughanadan said he is yet to receive the compensation announced for the relatives of missing people. Though four persons who have gone missing were included in the list of the dead, certificates are yet to be issued.
“I have approached revenue officials several times. They said they have submitted the papers to the higher-ups and that an order needs to be issued,” he says.