Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday appealed the Maoists to extend the deadline set by them for fulfilment of their demands for release of the Malkangiri district collector R. Vineel Krishna and Kudumuluguma block junior engineer Pabitra Mohan Majhi.
“My appeal to the concerned persons is to extend the deadline set for this evening and not to harm the abducted district collector and the junior engineer,” chief minister Naveen Patnaik said.
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As the 48-hour deadline set by the rebels expired at 3 pm on Friday, reports from Malkangiri said Maoists on Friday evening extended the deadline for fulfilment of their demands by 24 hours.
The Centre is, meanwhile, in constant touch with the Orissa government to offer any help for the release of the officials abducted by Naxals on Wednesday. Secretary internal security in the ministry of home affairs Utthan Kumar Bansal said the Orissa government has been trying its best to free the IAS officer from the hands of Maoists.
“The MHA is in constant touch with the state government and ready to offer any help to rescue the collector,” he told reporters.Orissa government said it has established contact with two mediators hand-picked by the Naxals to negotiate the release of the two officials.
The Naxals, who abducted Mr Krishna and Mr Majhi, have demanded release of some top Maoist cadres and “innocent tribals” lodged in various jails in Orissa and Chhattishgarh. Among others, the Maoists have demanded release of senior cadres like Shoba Didi, Padma, Ashutosh alias Motilal Soren, Gananath Patra and Sriramlu Shrinibasa.