COIMBATORE: A Coimbatore man who went missing 23 years ago and was rescued as a bonded labourer from near the Pakistan border in Punjab three years ago is set to be reunited with his 68-year-old mother and other family members.The Coimbatore district administration has initiated the process to bring Prakasam, 39, back to Tamil Nadu. District collector Pavankumar G Giriyappanavar has issued a 16-page set of documents that will enable the family to complete the formalities required for his release from a shelter home in Punjab. A three-member team, including his mother Sundari, is expected to leave for Punjab within a week to bring him home.Prakasam, a native of Aruppukottai in Virudhunagar district, had dropped out of school after Class III and reportedly ran away from home at the age of 16. His family later moved to Coimbatore and settled near Neelambur. Their efforts to contact him failed and eventually they presumed him to be dead. Sundari’s husband, Ramamoorthy, died of cancer during the Covid-19 pandemic.During his captivity, Prakasam was chained and forced to work at a brick kiln and rear around 30 buffalos in a shed. He was denied alternate clothing and a proper sleeping space. He was provided with a blanket that was drenched in cow dung and urine.Prakasam was rescued in 2022 and admitted to a shelter run by Apna Farz Sewa Society (an NGO) in Lachkani, Patiala. Despite repeated counselling sessions, he was initially able to utter only fragmented clues such as “Tamil Nadu”, “Eru company”, “door numbers”, “Rameswaram” and “Mumbai”, making it difficult to trace his family.Retired Haryana legislative assembly secretary Subhash Chander, who has been counselling rescued bonded labourers and abandoned people, said a breakthrough came in May when Prakasam mentioned “Aruppukottai”. Through contacts in Tamil Nadu, he connected with Tirupur-based social activist and journalist Muthaiah, who eventually traced Sundari to Neelambur.“After multiple efforts spanning nearly three years, we located the family. They had no records linking Prakasam to them and had almost given up hope,” Muthaiah told TOI. The family survives on daily wage work, and Prakasam’s younger brother is a person with special needs.Although the identity of the family was confirmed, the NGO declined to release Prakasam without official documentation. Sundari subsequently petitioned the Coimbatore collector, following which the district administration completed the necessary proceedings.Meanwhile, the Tamil Sangam of Chandigarh is working to secure compensation for Prakasam under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act. S. Rajasekaran of the organisation said efforts were also under way to investigate how Prakasam ended up in Punjab and whether he had been trafficked and sold to different locations before being rescued.
