Two IL&FS employees released in Ethiopia

Two of the seven IL&FS employees held hostage in Ethiopia by unpaid local staff have been released on health grounds, a source said.

The two had sent an e-mail from captivity to the Indian Embassy on their medical condition, the source said, adding that the embassy helped in securing their release. Harish Bandi, one of the two employees released, was suffering from gastric issues and swelling in one of his fingers while the other, Bhaskar Reddy, was down with severe fever.

"A mail was written to the Indian Embassy in Ethiopia, which acted promptly and with the help of local police the two employees were released," the source close to the development said.

Both the employees were then taken to a local hospital near the project site with the help of police, and from there to the capital city Addis Ababa, where they are recuperating.

The five employees currently in captivity are surviving on boiled rice, sweet potatoes and vegetables they had grown in their camp area, but the stock may not last for long, the source added. The seven Indian workers of a unit of IL&FS have been held hostage since November 25 at three sites in Ethiopia's Oromia and Amhara states by unpaid local staff. IL&FS had defaulted on paying both taxes and local employee pensions for nine months. The local workers have supposedly not been given salaries for October and November by a subsidiary of IL&FS Transportation Networks (ITNL).