Berhampur: Suman Behera of Dhanamera Sahi, who works as a sweeper at the municipal corporation, started a poster campaign to find his eldest son Suraj who has been missing since the last one year.

"My son is missing since December 7 last year. He was 18 then. I lodged an FIR at Bada Bazar police station on December 8 last year, one day after the incident. However, the police could not trace him till now. I have no option other than putting up posters of my son to seek public help," Behera said.

Behera has also declared a cash award of Rs 50,000 for someone who would provide information about his son. The poster consists of a large photograph of Suraj and the amount to be rewarded.

Inspector in-charge of Bada Bazar police station, Suresh Tripathy, said the cops tried to trace Suraj immediately after the report was lodged.

"We tried to find Suraj several times," he said. Suraj's photograph has also been uploaded on the social media and we are still making efforts to find him," Tripathy said.

Suraj was a Plus-II student at the Khallikote Junior College. He left home to attend college on a bicycle and has been missing since then, the police said.

Suraj's brother and sister are hopeful that he will return home.

Behera has lost faith on the police. He tried to seek help from the public by distributing small pamphlets containing the photograph of his missing son during Budhi Thakurani Yatra. "I thought since many people will be attend the yatra I must try to find my son. Recently, I put up many posters at Berhampur and nearby areas," Behera said.

He has also requested chief minister Naveen Patnaik to expedite the investigation process of the police to find his son.