Jamshedpur: A police team from Jharkhand and West Bengal on Saturday said they will carry out a joint operation in the Maoist-affected areas in the Ghatshila subdivision . According to the strategy drawn up at a meeting of police officers from East Singhbhum, Jhargram and Midnapore held in West Bengal earlier this month, the police decided to resume search and combing operation in the Maoist-affected areas in the Jhargram-Gurabandha circuit."The purpose of the joint operation will be to thwart extremists from making a fresh bid to regain foothold in the areas from where they were flushed out during an operation carried out between December and February," said SP (rural) Shailendra Barnwal. Refraining from divulging details of the strategy, Barnwal said the security exercise is based on the intelligence on the movement of the Maoists received by police of the two bordering states.Sources in the district police said wanted Maoist Asim Mandal alias Akash and his squad members are in the vicinity of Jhagram and Gurabandha. "At a time when the police force in the two state's are working closely to end the menace of extremism, one cannot take the risk of not following up with field operation after receiving intelligence relating to the wanted Maoist's bid to regain foothold in the area," said a senior police officer.The source added that a covert operation is currently underway in some either side of the border, but the operation will be intensified to cover more areas in the next few days. The source said Syamsunderpur, Dumaria, Gurabandha, Ghatshila, Patamda, Boram in Jharkhand and Belpahari, Bandwan, Jhargram, Jambani, among other areas along the West Bengal border will witness the joint exercise.

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