Naveen condemns abduction of Italian tourists, seeks their immediate release

Naveen condemns abduction of Italian tourists, seeks their immediate release

Sidharth Shankar Mishra , BUREAU CHIEF, THESE DAYS
Bhubaneshwar/Kandhamal, March 19

LATEST UPDATE:-

The Italian Consul Joel Melchiori leaves the State guest house to met the Chief Secretary in Bhubaneswar.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday condemned the abduction of two Italian tourists in the forests bordering Kandhamal and Ganjam districts and sought their immediate release on humanitarian grounds. The tourists were abducted on Saturday evening.

The Chief Minister convened an emergency meeting with state Chief Secretary BK Patnaik, Home Secretary UN Behera and Director General of Police MM Praharaj and said he was willing to hold talks for the release of the tourists.

"I appeal to the extremists to release them immediately on humanitarian grounds. I condemn the heinous crime,” the Chief Minister said, addressing the press.
PRO in the Chief Minister Office, S K, Panda, while speaking to “These days”when contacted, said the abductors had set Sunday evening as deadline for the government to initiate a dialogue process.

The abductors have released an audio tape in which they reportedly set Sunday evening as the deadline for the government to start negotiations over their demands for the release of the tourists, whom they identified as Bosusco Paolo and Claudio Colangelo.

Media sources said the audio tape claims the tourists were taking objectionable photographs of tribal people in Kandhamal.

Important:

The very latest update of the news is that the Maoists demanded, among others, immediate stop to anti combing opration/extremists operations, withdrawal of cases against 672 tribals lodged in jails “ termed as Maoists”, ban on objectionable photography of tribals, remunerative prices to Daringbadi turmeric farmers, release od imprisoned Ganeshnath Patra, Subhsshree Panda ( Sabhyaschach’s panda wife) and Junus Pradhan, these were th the agreement between Maoists and State government for the realease of of IAS R Vineel Krishna and Pabitra Majhi junior engineer in FEB 2011.

IMPORTANT KEY DEMANDS OF THE MOISTS:

1. IMMEDIATE HALT TO ANTI COMBING OPERATIONS
2. STOP OBJECTIONABLE PHOTOGRAPHY OF TRIBALS
3. WITHDRAWAL OF CASES AGAINST TRIBALS LODGED IN DIFFERENT JAILS “ TAGGED AS MAOISTS”
4. REMUNERATIVE PRICES TO DHARINGBADI TURMERIC FARMERS
5. RELEASE OF INCARCERATED GANANTH PATRA AND SUBHSHREE PANDA (SABYASCHI’S PANDA WIFE AND JUNUS PRADHAN.
6. IMPLEMENTATION OF ‘AGREEMENT’ BETWEEN MAOISTS AND STATE GOVERNMENT FOR RELEASE OF MALKANGIRI IAS OFFICER R VINEEL KRISHNA AND JUNIOR ENGINEER PABITRA MAJHI IN FEB 2011
7. ST STATUS FOR KONDA REDDY AND NUKADORA COMMUNITIES CATGORIZED AS OBCS.
8. IRRIGATION OF MARIBADA AND MANLAMKONDA VILLAGES IN LAKANGIRI
9. ‘RECORD OF RIGHTS’ i.e. ‘ ‘PATTA’ TO TRIBALS DISPOSSESSED OF THEIR LAND IN MALKANGIRI AND KORAPUT
10. HALT TO MULTIPURPOSE POLAVORAM PROJECT OF ANDRA PRADESH


(INPUTS: SENIOR CORRESPONDENT : SANGRAM KESHARI PANDA)