The police are on lookout for two engineers who were abducted by some unidentified persons of Elogola village in Hukuma panchayat under Patrapur block in Ganjam district on Saturday afternoon.
Sources said some villagers abducted the two engineers in protest against the inordinate delay in the construction of a hillside road connecting Patrapur with their village. Senior police and irrigation officials have camped at the Khariaguda police station to rescue the engineers.
Reports said the kidnappers who had taken five persons, including the two engineers, SDO Bedambara Behera and Junior Engineer Haladhar Pradhan of the Baghalati irrigation project, hostage, had later released three of them at 3 pm. The police said the five persons had gone to Elogola village in the morning after crossing the river by a boat but did not return from there.
It may be mentioned that though the Sub-Collector and the local tehsildar had earlier assured the villagers for an early construction of the six-km road to their village, the contractor, who was assigned with the job, left the place after some days. Besides, the construction got further delayed due to the cyclone Phailin in October. The villagers had requested the concerned authorities several times to expedite the construction work, but in vain.
The two engineers along with two Amins and a land Acquisition Officer had gone to Baniabasa village for assessment of compensation to the displaced villagers of the Baghalati irrigation project.