Bhubaneswar:
The much-awaited talks between the Orissa government and the mediators chosen by the Maoists began in Bhubaneswar today to negotiate the release of abducted Malkangiri Collector R Vineel Krishna and junior engineer Pabitra Majhi.
The crucial meeting began amid tight security soon after the arrival of the two Hyderabad-based mediators - Professor Hargopal and Professor Someswar Rao - in Bhubaneswar.
Before the start of the meeting, Professor Hargopal said, "It's not pressure...we are mediators for both the government and the Maoists. We are just middlemen. It's not a question of putting pressure on the government or putting pressure on the Maoists. We will listen to both sides and then see how the problem can be solved....We have not come with any plan..."
Orissa Home Secretary UN Behera and Panchayati Raj Secretary SN Tripathy represented the government in the talks for the release of the two officers.
The meeting was earlier slated for Saturday night. But it was deferred as the mediators failed to reach Bhubaneswar on Saturday.
The Maoists have said no talks can happen unless two of their jailed leaders - Ganti Prasad and Sriramulu Srinivas - are released. They want them to represent the party in the negotiation process.
(Read: List of prisoners Maoists want freed)Sources have told NDTV that the Orissa government, under pressure from people across the state, is reportedly considering giving in to their demand of setting the Maoist leaders free. There are indications that it may drop or dilute serious criminal charges for lack of evidence against them, so that the court may consider granting them bail. Ganti Prasad and Sriramulu Srinivas have moved fresh bail applications in court.
Malkangiri Collector R Vineel Krishna and junior engineer Pabitra Majhi were abducted from Malkangiri district on Wednesday evening. The state government said on Saturday they were safe and in good health.
"As per the information available with us, the two abducted persons are safe and in good health in the captivity of the Maoists", Chief Secretary B K Patnaik told reporters after a high-level meeting attended by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Home Secretary U N Behera and others.
On the deadline set by the Maoists for fulfilment of their demands for release of the two, the Chief Secretary said though initially a time frame had been fixed, "Now we assume that there is no time limit."
The Maoists had earlier set a 48-hour deadline for fulfilment of their demands, but they later extended it. No timeframe was, however, given.
On Thursday, the Maoists sent a list of seven demands to the Naveen Patnaik government. They said they will release the two kidnapped officials only if Central forces were withdrawn from Malkangiri. They also demanded an end to Operation Greenhunt and the release of arrested Maoists. In the four-page demand letter, the Maoists also said that Vineel Krishna was a part of the 'repressive regime' in Orissa.
Twenty-nine-year-old Vineel Krishna is an IIT-Madras graduate. He joined Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 2005. He was posted in Malkangiri in September 2009.