Nuapada: A bonded labourer of this district, who had gone missing in Vishakhapatnam and held hostage by his employers, returned to his village after three decades, much to the delight of his friends, relatives and fellow villagers.
On learning the arrival of Karan Sabar (now 49), locals thronged the village to catch a glimpse of him while he was filled with tears of joy to get back to his family.
Family members were more than happy to get him back while they had performed his last rites assuming that he was dead. His wife has also settled down with another man.
Karan, the second son of Bhagatram Shabar of Dianmunda village, about 3 km from the district headquarters town married Savitri of the same village when he was 20. However, after 15 days of the marriage, he had to leave his family and wife and travel with his friends to Vishakhapatnam to work as a labourer to repay the loans which he incurred for the marriage.
At least 24 of them were engaged at a construction site where Karan was taken ill and affected by diseases due to heavy work pressure. On the fateful day, he went to buy provisions but lost his way to his rented accommodation. Failing to trace his whereabouts, his friends returned home and informed about his disappearance.
After missing his route, Karan unknowingly picked up a Mumbai-bound train. Meanwhile, he was arrested by the railway police for travelling without ticket. He had to spend five years in the prison. Then, he fell in the clutches of a dishonest labour contractor in Uttar Pradesh who made him work for 15 years.
One day, he managed to escape from there but was again misled by another labour contractor who made him work in a hotel for another 10 years. There, he came across a spiritual person named Akhileswar Dwivedi who offered him shelter when he came to know of Karan’s plight.
With Akhileswar’s help, he wrote a letter to his family informing them that he was alive and would return home. While he was happy to return after so many years, he came to know that his parents had passed away. PNN
