Indore: Even though Indore civic body's act of dumping homeless elderly people out of the city has caused widespread outrage, the incident has also led to the reunion of a woman with her husband who had gone missing.
When Pushpa Salvi saw photos and videos on social media of some homeless people who were taken out of the city last Friday, she recognised her husband Anil Salvi (50) among them, sitting on Nipania bypass road on Indore's outskirts.
The man, who is mentally disturbed, left his home here last month. The woman, after being unable to find him, had subsequently lodged a missing person's complaint with police. Last week, she recognised her husband in the visuals of some homeless people who were dumped out of the city.
"I had filed a missing person's report at Chandan Nagar police station after I did not find him. On January 29, I got a call from someone that my husband was found in Nipania area following which I took a taxi to go there," the woman told reporters here on Tuesday.
The woman, aged around 48, said she did not know the exact way and the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) employees guided the cab driver following which she reached the spot. "My husband was lying down there with five-seven other elderly persons," the woman said, alleging that the IMC staff did not help in bringing her husband back home.
The woman said she first took her husband to a mental hospital where doctors gave him medicines, following which she brought him back home on January 29 late evening. A civic official said it is a matter of happiness that a family got back its missing member.
Chandan Nagar police station in-charge Yogesh Tomar said the missing person's report was filed on January 15. "Now, he has been found and reunited with his family," he said. On Friday, a video on social media showed municipal workers dumping some homeless elderly persons outside the city, drawing a sharp criticism from various quarters.
The Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission (MPHRC) has sought a report from the state's chief secretary, Indore divisional commissioner, district collector and IMC chief. District Magistrate Manish Singh on Sunday said he has apologised to God for the local administration's action.
The local administration has now been by providing food and shelter to such people, and has asked officials to treat them with "sensitivity and humanity". On Friday, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan suspended an IMC official in connection with the incident. The civic body has also removed two temporary employees from the job.
