Bareilly: After years in the mental hospital, five former inmates enjoyed the sunshine sitting out in a lawn on Saturday. They were shifted to an old age home on Friday evening as they had been declared “cured”.Manoj Kumar Gupta, 49, who spent over four years at the mental hospital, said, “It feels so great to sit out under the sun and enjoy the warmth. At the mental hospital, we used to remain in our ward and were allowed to come out only for tea break.”Though these five had recovered from their mental ailments a few years ago, they continued to live in the hospital as their families abandoned them. Following a Supreme Court order, the state government transferred them to a new home. The families of these five have cut all ties with them but the former patients still hope that one day their kin will take them home.Mor Singh, 57, a native of Tehri Garhwal in Uttarakhand, has spent 14 years of his life at the mental hospital. The hospital authorities wrote several letters to his family but all went unanswered. He said, “I have a mother, two brothers and three sisters back home. They never came to meet me here but I miss them. I want the state government to send me home. I have an agricultural plot at my village.”Ashish Chauhan, 36, who was admitted at the mental hospital in April 2014, recalled, “I was working as an artisan in a factory which used to make leather bags. My family came to meet me only once after I was admitted here. Though it has been more than three-and-a-half-years since I heard from there, I still hope that they will come here to take me back.”Kanta Gangwar, assistant manager of the old age home, said, “These five people told us that they are already feeling better here than at the mental hospital.”Dr Pramila Gaur, director, mental hospital, said, “We have shifted five cured inmates. We will see the response and if there are more such inmates in future, we will transfer them.”

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