The two engineers who were abducted by some unidentified persons of Elogola village of Hukuma panchayat under Patrapur block in Ganjam district on Saturday afternoon were finally released after 30 hours of captivity.
The villagers had kidnapped the engineers, SDO Bedambara Behera and Junior Engineer Haladhar Pradhan of Baghalati irrigation project, in protest against the inordinate delay in the construction of a hillside road connecting Patrapur with their village.
To release the duo from captivity, Khariaguda police station IIC Haribandhu Das and a Sub-Inspector of Tumba police station went to the village on Sunday morning after crossing the Baghalati reservoir by a boat with some local villagers.
After reaching Elogola, they had an hour-long discussion with the villagers who told them that they would not release the two engineers until the Executive Engineer arrived at the village to discuss with them about their demand.
later, after telephonic conversation with the Executive Engineer, Jyotirmayee Rath, the Irrigation Secretary and the Chief Engineer, Irrigation, Patrapur BDO lalit Mohan Kanhar and Haraprasad Bhoi sent a letter assuring the villagers for early completion of the road construction work.
Following the assurance in writing, the villagers later released the two engineers.