New Delhi, 22nd October’05 :In a first of its kind effort on television in India, Zee News created history by reuniting five-year-old Pankaj Upadhayay with his family. The boy went missing four months ago from Ahmedabad and landed at Tulsi Peeth Ashram at Chitrakoot in Madhya Pradesh. Police at Ahmedabad and Chitrakoot could not unite the family, until Zee News stepped in and flashed live pictures of Pankaj Upadhyay from Tulsi Peeth Ashram at Chitrakoot, appealing to its viewers to provide clues to missing boy’s family.

Such is the popularity and wide reach of Zee News that within 40 minutes the first clues came through on a special broadcast of Zee News. A caller from Sirpur in Andhra Pradesh informed Zee News of the boy’s family’s whereabouts. The missing boy’s maternal aunt knew this caller where missing boy’s brother too was residing.
Zee News got Pankaj and his brother connected over phone in a Live TV show. The brothers identified each other immediately. From then on to tracing Pankaj’s parents in Ahmedabad was almost like a bollywood story on TV screen.

Pankaj’s parents do not have a cable connection but the Zee News correspondents at Ahmedabad had them brought over to the Zee News Studios. This emotional reunion on live television had an audience of millions glued to Zee News. The efforts of Zee News in reuniting the little boy with his parents evoked immense public response with overjoyed callers choking the telephone lines and thousands of sms messages flowing in congratulating the family and Zee News on this success.

Zee News took it upon itself to fly the parents from Ahmedabad to Chitrakoot to meet up with their darling son. The efforts of Zee News have been widely acclaimed by various sections of society. Noted actor Raza Murad said ‘Zee News’ effort is commendable and is an example of how television news can play its role positively for a societal cause.’

Commenting on the success of Zee News initiative Mr.
Laxmi Goel – Director News Group said "I congratulate the Upadhayas on the family reunion and am happy that Zee News became the medium for family’s reunion. I also congratulate the entire Zee News team involved in the special effort. Zee News has always believed in responsible news coverage and is known for its human-interest stories and for its coverage of social causes. We are committed to be a platform for the social good and will keep playing our role in National interest"

Media Contacts :

Chetan Saxena
saxena_chetan@yahoo.com