MHA officials warn Odisha of spurt in Maoist activities

Kolkata: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) alerted Tuesday the police of West Bengal and its adjoining three states – Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha – on possible rise in Maoist activities in this region in the next fortnight, an official said. During a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eastern Zonal Council held at the state secretariat here, senior MHA officials referred to intelligence inputs regarding a possibility of a sudden surge in the activists of the Maoists and issued an alert for the police of the four states.

“The police of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand have been asked to be on high alert regarding a possible Maoist attack within the next 15 days. There are central intelligence inputs in this connection during the said period,” a bureaucrat in the West Bengal secretariat said.  Some areas of these states are already affected by Maoist activities.

Besides senior officials of the MHA, chief secretaries and home secretaries of the four states were present at the meeting.

Maoist posters recently surfaced in West Bengal’s Jangal Mahal, the adjoining forested region of Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Bankura and Purulia districts. State DGP Manoj Malviya had toured the area and evaluated the security arrangements there.

Discussions were held on erecting barbed wire fencing along the international borders of the four states, the official said.