State govt advises officials to be cautious

Bhubaneswar: In the wake of the abduction of a district collector by Maoists in neighbouring Chhattisgarh, state government on Sunday advised all its officers to take precautionary measures while undertaking their field visits.

"All government officers have been advised to take all possible precautions while undertaking field visits in view of the incident involving Sukma Collector in Chhattisgarh," Home Secretary U N Behera told reporters here.

As 24 of the 30 districts in the state were affected by Maoist activities, the government officers should observe precautions and remain alert while touring, particularly in the Maoist-hit areas, he said.

To a query whether the abducted Sukma Collector Alex Paul Menon might have been brought by Maoists to Malkangiri district, he said there was no such information with Odisha government.

Meanwhile, police from Malkangiri said an alert had been sounded in the district, border with Chhattisgarh sealed and security tightened along the entire stretch following the abduction.

A P Menon, a 2006-batch IAS officer, was abducted on Saturday from Majhipara village where he was meeting villagers in a government outreach programme.