A sense of anxiety and anguish has gripped Food Corporation of India staff in the Northeast even as the Assam government and police have assured that the abducted Executive Director P C Ram will be rescued safe from the clutches of the banned ULFA ultras.
FCI Chairman cum Managing Director Alok Sinha on Wednesday said, "We have been assured by the state government everything possible is being done to secure release of Dr Ram. We have full faith in the government and hope he will be rescued very soon."
Sinha, who met Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Chief Secretary P C Sharma and senior police officials in Guwahati on Tuesday, informed that the Assam government had assured to provide 'proper security cover' to FCI officials working in the state.
He, however, informed that there was no panic reaction from the FCI staff in the region over abduction and denied to receive any request from his staff for transfer out of the region.
He said the staff and officials of the FCI in the region were 'very anxious and anguished' over the development.
Sinha, however, said that the 'one-off' abduction case and continuing militancy in the region would not affect the FCI operation in the region.
"We will ensure that supply of food grains to the region is not hampered under any circumstances," Sinha said.
The FCI top officer is in constant touch with the Central government and Ram's family to gather information about the latest development over the fate of the official in captivity of ULFA militants.
Hr said Ram's family members had not disclosed receiving any ransom demand from abductors as was being reported in the media. He, however, confirmed that the family of the abducted official had received phone calls from the abductors believed to the militants from the banned United Liberation Front of Assam.
He called upon the abductors to release 54-year-old diabetic as the FCI had not 'fought' with them. The abducted official, despite being the head of FCI operations in the region, was staying in a rented flat and without a personal security officer.
The FCI executive director had been kidnapped by Naga rebels while he was posted in Dimapur in Nagaland in 2002. However, he had then managed to break free from his abductors within a day.