Hyderabad: For exactly one week, Shaik Mehtab has been waiting at the Musi river’s banks, hoping that his 18-year-old son Shaik Aamir would return home safely. Mehtab, a rickshaw puller, walks daily to the river at the Kishanbagh area every morning.
Standing on the Puranapul flyover and then walking along the sides of the river, Mehtab stares into the water, checks its shores as far as his sight permits, and goes to various police stations and then walks back dejected everyday.
It was on October 18 that Mehtab’s only son Shaik Aamir slipped and fell into the surging river (after heavy rains lashed the city on October 13 and 17) and got washed away. “Since then I come to the river daily to see if the body has come up,” says the 60-year-old, who has four daughters, with whom he lives in a rented house in Kishanbagh.
Mehtab’s family members only hope that the youngster is safe, as several people in Hyderabad died and drowned to death in floods that took place on October 18. Several unidentified bodies are being recovered by the locals and police in the flood-affected areas in the city.
Poor Mehtab’s family used to lead a happy life with his small family, but the son’s disappearance has affected the entire family and left them depressed as Aamir was the only one who was working and fulfilling the basic needs of the entire family.
According to the FIR filed at Bahadupura police station on October 18, around 3:30 pm, Aamir, who works as a painter, along with a few of his friends had one to see the rising water level in the Musi when he fell into the water. The gates of Himayat Sagar, about 10 km up-stream, were opened for the second time the previous night. “While leaving home he did not inform where he was going, else we would have stopped him,” cries Khatija Begum, Aamir’s mother.
Since then, his relatives have visited several police stations along the Musi to know if the body had washed ashore. “We went to several police stations and also to the mortuary to know if the body was found,” said Malaan Beem Aamir’s grandmother.
Aamir was looking after the family since Mehtab had to take a break from work. “I pray to the almighty that my son comes back safely, my husband regularly goes to the police station to know if they have found him,” says Khatija.
Here are the necessary details to donate and support the family financially:
Contact: 7702025865
CIF Number: 86649637523
Account Number: 32873980770
IFSC CODE: 4SBIN0001879
First Name: KHATIJA BEGUM
Middle Name:
Last Name: KHATIJA BEGUM
Address: 19-5-44/3/BASAD BABA NAGAR DISTHYD
Pin Code: 500064
KO Name: RAMAKRISHNA M KO Location: CHARMINAR-GAIA