MANGALURU: A 32-year-old mentally ill man, who was picked up from the railway station, fed and housed for nearly a year, has been reunited with his family in Bihar. Lakhan Kumar was working as a cleaner when he was abandoned by the driver here in July last year. He had gone without food for 10 days when he was found.
“When we reached the Mangaluru Junction railway station in our ambulance, Kumar was exhausted due to starvation. He was afraid to come out of the shed due to fear of police and the pandemic. He was mentally depressed too. We immediately took him to a hospital and later shifted him to our rehabilitation centre,” said Mohammed Asif, founder of Maimuna Foundation. “We provided him food and took care of him at our centre for nearly a year before sending him back to his family in Agu Chapra village in Siwan.”
Had come in search of job
Kumar had come to Mangaluru in search of a job and he was making ends meet till the lockdown. Left to fend for himself, without food or a place to stay, Kumar became depressed. After days of wandering, he took shelter in the shed at the railway station. Even while recovering at the foundation, he failed to give details of his family.
In September 2020, the organisation had rehabilitated a mentally disturbed man who was roaming the streets, with the help of Dakshina Kannada Anjana Patel Samaj. Using their wide network across the country, the Samaj had found the man’s family in Jodhpur and sent him back. When members of the group saw Kumar at the foundation’s centre, they sent out feelers again.
“With the help of Patel Samaj president Panch Ram and other members, Lakhan Kumar’s family was traced to Siwan. His brother Adhiraj Chouhan came here and took him back on July 15,” Asif said.
