Kolkata, Aug 8 (PTI) A 30-year-old Nepali man, who was found injured near a rail station in West Bengal a week ago, was reunited with his family on Tuesday, thanks to the efforts of a radio club.
The man, Kamal BK, could not provide his identity to the good samaritan, who took her first to a hospital and subsequently to her home. The only information he could provide was that he was from the neighbouring country.
The radio club took up the case and with another similar organisation in Nepal, discovered Kamal’s home at ward no. 5 of Jaimini Municipality in Baglung district. The man was officially handed over to the authorities of his country on Tuesday.
"We are happy that he is finally going home," said Ambarish Nag Biswas, founder of West Bengal Radio Club.
Runu Hawlader, who runs a small imitation jewellery shop near Bedberia station in South 24 Parganas district, noticed an injured man in front of the outlet on August 2.
“He was bleeding and could not say anything. I decided to take him to a hospital and later took him to my house since he had nowhere to go. Then I contacted Ambarish Nag Biswas of HAM radio,” Hawlader said.
The members of the amateur radio club traced the man’s family in Nepal.
The Nepal Consulate was also informed, following which preparations to send Kamal back home started.
Eshor Raj Poudel, the Consul General of Nepal, told PTI over the phone that after he got the information, the verification process started.
“After speaking to Kamal BK’s family and after getting a letter from his ward councillor, we started the process of sending him back,” Poudel said.
Poudel said he got a volunteer from the Nepali community here, who accompanied him home.
The consulate took care of all the formalities – getting tickets and making arrangements for his food.
“On Monday, they have left for Raxaul from where he will cross the international border. Kamal’s brother was at the border to receive him,” Poudel said.
Hawlader thanked the radio club for finding the address of the man.
For several years, these radio clubs have reunited lost people with their families at various places.
“Our radio club has members outside West Bengal and also outside India. In places where we don’t have members, we take help from other HAM radio operators to help people. This is how we got in touch with the Nepal man’s family,” Nag Biswas said.
The HAM radio members along with the police recently helped a girl from West Bengal, who was lost in faraway Kashmir a decade ago, to reunite with her family.
The radio club also helped an elderly woman to be reunited with her daughter after 17 years.
The woman from Bihar’s Katihar had gone to a local fair with her children and she could not spot her daughter after they took a ride on a Ferris wheel. Thinking that she lost them, the woman did not return home and somehow came to Kolkata.
She was found loitering in the city by the police during the COVID-19 period and was sent to a home run by a missionary. HAM radio members then tracked her daughter and reunited them.