Radio signals reach homes of missing persons
Kolkata: West Bengal Radio Club (WBRC), an organisation of ham radio enthusiasts in the state, helped to reunite two Bihar residents —a nonagenarian man and an elderly woman— with their families on Monday. These two elderly persons went missing after they got estranged from their respective groups at Gangasagar Mela.
A teacher recently saw the woman wandering aimlessly on the road in the hot and humid weather in Kakdwip. When he asked what her name was and inquired about her identity, the woman started fumbling names of Gods and Goddesses. The man took her home and after offering her food he informed his family doctor about the matter. The doctor advised him to contact the West Bengal Radio Club as he knew that a number of missing persons had been reunited with their families by the radio enthusiasts.
"We have been successful in reuniting missing persons with their families. When we were contacted with the photograph of the woman, we circulated it in our network and managed to trace her address in Bihar," said secretary of WBRC Ambarish Nag Biswas.One of her family member in Bihar said the woman lived with her sister in Rajasthan about two years back and turned up at the Gangasagar Mela in Sagar Islands with a group. The woman's daughter came to Kakdwip along with other family members from Bihar and took her home.
The elderly person was spotted near the Bakkhali sea beach a few days ago by a civil defence volunteer Subhankar Mondal whose job is to ensure that no one is present on the beach at the night. After the beach was vacated the elderly was found loitering near the beach.
The matter was reported to the SDO and the intervention of WBRC was sought. The local panchayat office provided him food and shelter and the ham radio enthusiasts circulated his photograph in their network and traced his address. They found that the man belongs to Sheikpura in Bihar. His brother Ashok Sha turned up on Monday at the panchayat office and the elderly person was handed over to him in presence of officer in charge of Bakkhali Coastal Police station Goutam Biswas.
