Bhubaneswar, Sept. 28: Additional director general of the Border Security Force (BSF) Arun Kumar today said anti-Maoist operations would be intensified in cut-off areas of Odisha's Malkangri district and bordering areas of neighbouring Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

Stating that no Maoist activities would be tolerated, Kumar said: 'The central paramilitary forces are in constant touch with Odisha police. Along with local inputs, we will intensify our operation against the Maoists and ensure that there is no movement of Maoists in the area.'

The BSF boss said the forces had made elaborate plans to fill security gaps in the cut-off areas of Malkangiri district and Tulsi Dongri in Chhattisgarh to combat the influence of the Maoists. 'Our major challenge is the Andhra-Chhattisgarh border. Force movement is the main challenge. We want to make more inroads in the cut-off area to do the operations,' he said, adding that they would shortly convene a meeting in Visakhapatnam to finalise the modalities of the operation.

In a related development, the state government today claimed that the number of districts in the clutches of the rebels have come down drastically because of its operation. Today, the police seized guns, bullets and explosives from Dangteka forest during a joint search operation by Rourkela and Sambalpur police.

Sambalpur superintendent of police Sanjeev Arora said: 'We launched an operation against the Maoists following a tip-off. During our operations, we seized two .303 rifles, 484 rounds

Sources said police had got the tip-off from two Maoists who were recently arrested by Sambalpur police.

However, in a recent report, the Comptroller and Auditor General criticised the effectiveness of the anti-Maoist operation. It has criticised the government for its failure to make special interventions for development of Maoist-affected areas on the state.

'Keeping this in mind, we are focusing on the development of road and railway network. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, during his meeting with railway minister Piyush Goyal, had stressed on the development of a railway network between Malkangiri and Jeypore and Jeypore and Nabarangpur,' said an official.