The Hindu : Karnataka News : Coming to the aid of children in distress

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 17, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

Coming to the aid of children in distress

Sahana Charan

BANGALORE: Battling between life and death, 18-year-old Nagaraj was found on the railway platform in a critical condition. Starving and in ragged clothes, he could not stand or even talk. But his story seems to have had a happy ending.

Through the efforts of BOSCO, the voluntary organisation working with street and working children, Nagaraj was united with his family after three years.

The 18-year-old had come to the city from Gangavathi in Koppal district in search of work. He did some odd jobs and sent Rs. 3,000 to his mother a couple of years ago. But after that, he did not contact his family at all and no one knew about his whereabouts.

On June 10, he was found on the railway station platform. The Railway Police referred him to BOSCO. "He was very ill and failed to answer any of our questions as he could not talk. From a diary in his bag we got his home address and sent a telegram to his family," said P.S. George, Director of BOSCO.

He was immediately rushed to the St. Martha's Hospital by the BOSCO volunteers, where he was diagnosed with severe typhoid. His blood count was also very low.

His family came and took him back to his native village. They were happy to be finally united with the boy as they had lost all hope of ever seeing him again," said Fr. George.

According to him, Nagaraj's is not an isolated case. Hundreds of youngsters come to the city every day from rural areas in search of jobs. But many times, they either end up dejected on not getting a job or are ill-treated by their employers. Many fall in the company anti-social elements.

In Nagaraj's case, he worked in some hotels in the city, but as he was falling sick often, he was not paid his wages by his employers. This resulted in the boy ending up on the railway platform, fatigued and discouraged, Fr. George added.

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