Bhubaneshwar:
After the much-awaited meeting between the Orissa government and the mediators for the release of abducted Malkangiri Collector R Vineel Krishna and junior engineer Pabitra Majhi, the administration today assured that no harm would be done to the kidnapped duo.
State Home Secretary U N Behera along with the Maoist-chosen mediators issued a joint statement saying, "They have assured us that the hostages are safe and they are fine and the discussion process is on".
The statement further added that no combing operation would be carried out till the talks were on. Moreover, there would also be no road blockades and violence by the Maoists till the hostage crisis was resolved.
The joint statement also called upon the media to exercise restraint.
The assurances came after the crucial meeting today between Hyderabad-based interlocutors - Professor Hargopal and Professor Someswar Rao - and the state government which was held amid tight security in Bhubaneshwar.
Before the start of the meeting, Professor Hargopal had 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.