Punjab police food distribution video helps unite Telangana man with family

Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, May 24

What started as a social cause to involve others in helping the needy during the time of lockdown and fight against coronavirus has turned out to be the best thing that could happen to a Telangana family.

A TikTok video shot in Punjab’s Ludhiana by the police during a relief operation has united a hearing- and speech-impaired Telangana man with his family after two years.

Roddam Venkateshwarlu, a resident of Bhadradri Kothagudem district, who had gone missing in 2018, was spotted by his family in one of the videos that was circulating online.

In one of the videos showing food distribution among the needy during the lockdown in Punjab, the children of Venkateshwarlu saw their father who they had lost two years ago.

“We had lost all hope till we suddenly saw this video and spotted our father unmistakably,” says R. Peddiraju, one of the sons said.

“My other siblings — two other brothers and two sisters could not believe their eyes when they saw our missing father in a TikTok video of Punjab’s Ludhiana Police.”

The children saw two men hand over a food packet to Venkateshwarlu, who was seen walking with the help of a walker.

In the video, a Punjab Police Head Constable as part of the social service helped the needy during the cronavirus pandemic, especially the beggars and people living on the streets. The children saw that their father was trying to communicate in a sign language and pointed out that he could not hear or speak. They became sure that this was their father.

Peddiraju approached his state’s police, who got in touch with their Punjab counterparts and after confirming that the man featured in the video is Venkateshwarlu issued the former a movement pass to travel down to Ludhiana in a car on Saturday. “I was so happy to meet my father after such a long time. It was painful to see him begging on the roads, but thank God we finally found him,” Peddiraju told local media.

The old man had gone missing in April 2018 after he left home to look for a job as a daily wager. They don’t know how he reached Ludhiana, but they think that in an inebriated state he may have boarded a train and landed in Punjab. A police complaint was filed but in vain.

Peddiraju said his father had developed an injury in the leg which will be shown to the doctors in Hyderabad, once the lockdown is lifted.