Sukma Collector reaches home

Sukma Collector reaches home
Man Mohan
Our Roving Editor
Collector Alex Paul Menon on his arrival at Sukma from Chintalnar on Friday. — PTI


Sukma (South Bastar), May 4
It was a joyous reunion between Sukma District Collector Alex Paul Menon and his wife Asha when he walked into his official residence as a free man this morning. Tears of happiness could be seen on pregnant wife’s cheeks. She welcomed him with a traditional “arti”.

The Maoists released Menon (32) in the Tadmelta forest, 85 km from here, on late Thursday evening. Because of darkness and bad road conditions, he spent that night at the Central Reserve Police Force base camp at Chintalnar, around 8 km from the spot where he was set free after his abduction by the rebels on April 21.

As per an agreement reached between the BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh Government on April 30 night, Menon was to be released within 48 hours, but that deadline was extended by one more day. The state administration had claimed that no Maoist would be set free for his release.

However, the Maoists issued a press statement on Friday, demanding “immediate release” of their three comrades and fast tracking the release of five others. The Maoists claimed that the Chhattisgarh Government had agreed to their demand.

There is a speculation in the corridors of power at Raipur whether any secret swap deal was worked out for Menon’s release.

The negotiators from the Maoists’ side, BD Sharma and Prof G Hargopal, said they had been given a list of five persons by the Naxalities. After five rounds of talks with the state government’s two representatives, Nirmala Buch and S Mishra, had agreed to release any three of them.

Meanwhile, Meena Chaudhary and Malti, two Naxalite women lodged in a jail, filed bail applications in the court today. The court rejected their bail petitions. They were among those whose release was demanded by the Maoists.

Asked whether the government was not going to oppose their bail, Chief Minister Raman Singh told the Press in New Delhi that “no assurance has been given other than the agreement reached with the Maoists…there is no secret deal with the Maoists”.

This morning, Menon flew from Chintalnar to Sukma. He was accompanied by the negotiators from the Maoists’ side. After landing, Menon went straight to his home where his family and some relatives were eagerly waiting for his arrival.

“I am okay,” Menon told a large contingent of television and print media assembled outside his house. Asked whether he would like to continue to work in Sukma, he said, “It depends on the state administration.” Thanking everybody for support, the 2006-batch IAS official Menon said, “I am fine.”

Asked to narrate his experience in the Maoists’ captivity, he said, “It was tough.” He refused to say more than this on the plea that “it was a bad experience and I do not want to talk about it again and again…I want to forget about it and move ahead in life”.

An agreement arrived at by the two mediators each of the Chhattisgarh Government and the Maoists during their fifth round of talks on April 30 night paved the way for Menon’s release.

Under the agreement, the state government had agreed to set up a high-powered committee under the chairmanship of Nirmala Buch to review the cases of all prisoners languishing in Chhattisgarh jails, including the cases demanded by the Maoists.

The three-member committee also include the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police. The committee has started examining the issue of delay in cases of undertrials lodged in different jails in the state.

The CM said, “Kidnapping is a national problem. There is a need for a unified national policy on such issues. We will take up the issue with the Prime Minister.”

He said the Chhattisgarh Government would be putting up its views on the revised NCTC draft at the chief ministers’ meeting in New Delhi on Saturday.