Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai   

Phamplet helps to restore missing boy

By S.Shivakumar

CHENNAI FEB. 18. A chance discovery of a pamphlet issued by the Chromepet Residents Welfare Association (CRWA) to gain support for a movement against the hike in telephone bill helped the Kodungaiyur police restore an eight-year-old missing boy to his parents.

The boy, Nagaraj, who escaped from school was found wandering in Kodungaiyur and rescued by the police. He was unable to give the police his address clearly.

However, police personnel found a CRWA pamphlet in his pocket along with the contact number of its president, V.Santhanam.

Following this police suspected the boy to be a resident of Chromepet and alerted Mr.Santhanam about the incident.

A hunt was launched to find out if any boy was missing in the area and it came to light that Nagaraj resided at Mummoorthy Nagar in Chromepet. His parents were located and the boy restored to them.

Apart from the presence of mind of the Kodungaiyur police personnel the incident also showed the importance of a cordial relationship between police and local resident welfare associations, a police officer said.

Childline role

The incident also emphasised the need for the Childline service, accessible by dialling 1098, to highlight its service to the community further.

In such instances, the four digit toll free service would have helped the parents and the police to approach a common forum.

The lack of sensitisation of police personnel to dial 1098 as a first step, became evident in such cases.

Periodic meetings involving the community and the Police, could be held to generate a profile for the service, activists said.

Wider distribution of publicity material would also help the community become aware of the importance of such emergency numbers.

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