Jind (Haryana), Sep 6 (PTI) A man who left his family in Haryana’s Jind district 35 years ago because he didn’t want to burden them with the cost of his polio treatment was reunited with his brother after the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Punjab brought him back to his home district.
Sita Ram (55), a resident of Amritsar, turned up at the principal’s office at Government Senior Secondary School in Jind’s Manoharpur village on Wednesday to collect his School Leaving Certificate (SLC), which he said was required to be submitted to the concerned authorities for SIR verification.
Ramesh Kumar, Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO), said they were at the school when Ram arrived.
“Ram told us that he studied at the school up to Class 10 but had not passed the examination and therefore needed the SLC, so that he could submit it to the officials in Punjab,” he said.
Ramesh then instructed Booth Level Officer Krishan Kumar, who is also from the same village, to gather details about Ram’s village and family.
Ram told Krishan that he belonged to Manoharpur village and mentioned his brother’s name as Dalbir.
Coincidentally, Krishan personally knew Dalbir (60) and called him over the phone. During their conversation, Dalbir told the official that Ram is his long-lost brother and said he was rushing to the school to meet him.
Emotions ran high when Dalbir reached the school and saw Ram. The brothers broke down in tears and hugged, Ramesh said.
“Everyone in the room became emotional,” he added.
Ram told the electoral officials that his family had admitted him to a polio treatment centre in Punjab’s Sangrur about 35 years ago.
When the family returned a month later to check on him, the staff told them that Ram had left the facility.
His family then began searching for him. Years passed without any information about his whereabouts, and after failing to trace him, they eventually lost hope of finding him.
Ram said he had left the treatment centre because he did not want to burden his family due to his condition.
During his stay in Punjab, Ram said he had worked as a peon at a private school before securing a stable job. PTI SUN KSI KSI
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