Bhubaneswar, Aug. 17: Orissa has decided to up the ante against the Maoists with intensified combing throughout the state.

Sources said the government had stepped up its anti-Maoist drive after the arrest of three rebels, including a top-level commander, from Rourkela on August 11 as they were trying to flee the stepped up combing in Saranda forests on the Orissa-Jharkhand border.

The arrest has been described as a success by the police who have reportedly elicited information from the rebel trio. “The joint operation by the Orissa and Jharkhand police there has shown what can be achieved through such efforts. No wonder the operation against the Maoists is now being intensified across the state,” said a police officer.

Sources said the recovery of Rs 76 lakh from the rebels arrested in Rourkela was an eye opener for the police who were giving a fresh look to the extortion racket being run by the Maoists in the area considered their strongholds. “We are sure that they are making a lot of money through extortion. We want this to stop,” said a police officer recalling that a few years ago the rebels’ operation in Malkangiri and Koraput was found to be blackmailing and extorting money from the NGOs and the panchayati raj representatives.

On the operation front, the authorities’ focus would be on ensuring greater coordination among the state police, the elite Special Operations Group (SOG) and the paramilitary forces deployed in the Maoist-infested districts. The problem of coordination has been acute, especially in Malkangiri, a known rebel citadel where the Border Security Force (BSF) has taken over most of the police station. Such is the dominance of the BSF that the local policemen have started feeling unwanted with resentment running high among them.

The senior officers admitted the need for refocussing on this aspect, but maintained that barring the districts, where the BSF had been posted, the forces were working in perfect coordination in other areas. “The problem with the BSF could be one of acclimatisation, because it is new to the state, whereas the CRPF has served here for a much longer time. Nonetheless, we are trying to sort this out,” said an officer.