Bhopal:
Even as efforts are on to secure the release of abducted Sukma District Collector Alex Paul Menon, a page created for the IAS officer by his family and friends on social networking site Facebook is seeing huge traffic.
The page 'Free Alex Paul Menon', has over 2,700 likes and rising. One of the comments on the page says "life should be a torch that will be passed on from one generation to the next" and adds that this simple motto drives Paul Menon's life.
"He has been an inspiration to everyone who he meets in the journey of life," the comment says. It goes on to say that "only a few dare to dive in the deepest ocean to get a pearl, while millions watch the dancing waves and points out that Paul Menon wants to be among the handfuls who dare to make a difference and bringing precious pearls of social reforms."
There are photos and posts of news articles on the abduction of Menon for whom the maximum support is coming from his home state, Tamil Nadu.
One person from the state thanked Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and her predecessor M Karunanidhi for talking to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to secure Menon's release.
32-year-old Menon hails from Tirunelveli district of south Tamil Nadu and is the first collector of the newly created Sukma district in Chhattisgarh.
Naxals abducted the 2006-batch officer on Saturday from Majhipara village in Chhattisgarh's Raipur district when he was holding a meeting as part of the government's special Gram Suraj Abhiyan.
A day later, the Maoists had set April 25 as deadline which expired on Wednesday. Their demands include immediate halt to all police action against them and release of eight fellow comrades including two women, even as the state government has appealed the extremists to extend their deadline.