12-year-old girl gets reunited with family after 7 years through Google
By Mitarani Sahoo
BHUBANESWAR, May 1: A 12-year-old girl from Odisha, who was in Nellore of Andhra Pradesh for the past seven years after getting separated from her parents, has finally got reunited with his family with the help of Google, – reports said on Sunday.
The girl Puja Khaudia hailing from Nimapada village in Odisha’s Puri district had gone missing in 2010 while returning to Bhubaneswar from Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.
According to reports, the girl was found sleeping in Nellore station after getting separated from her parents. The police handed over the girl to the local Child Welfare Committee (CWC) which got her admitted into a residential school.
In March, Puja’s class teacher assigned Puja a project on holy towns of India. While searching for the holy towns on Google, she stumbled upon Lord Jagannath temple at Puri in Odisha. All on a sudden, the memories of her childhood flashed back in her mind and she told her teacher and classmates that she had visited Jagannath temple several times with her parents.
The local CWC office was eagerly waiting for this signal.
The CWC authorities, Nellore, contacted their counterpart in Puri and requested them to help them to trace out the parents of the girl. They also sent Puja’s childhood photographs and other details through WhatsApp and email.
After investigation, the Odisha police found that a missing case was filed in Nimapda police station in 2010. In the meanwhile, the Khaudia family had in 2011 shifted to Jagatsinghpur to eke out their living.
After a thorough search, the police managed to trace out the parents of Puja.
On Saturday, the Andhra Pradesh police brought the girl and got her reunited with her parents Shyam Khaudia and Muni Khaudia after completing legal formalities.
“I always prayed Lord Jagannath not to let me die without seeing my missing child. He listened to my prayer and returned my child to me,” Puja’s mother Muni told the gathering as tears of joy rolled down from her eyes.
