Having tightened their grip over Maoist-held areas in West Midnapore district, security forces on Wednesday launched a fresh operation to clear the 10-km road from Lalgarh to Dharampur of landmines.

Thousand security force personnel, comprising CRPF, BSF and the state police and equipped with anti-landmine vehicles and bulldozers, started off from the police station in Lalgarh on way to Dharampur, police said. Since the areas around the road are inhabited by people and have less forest cover, the security forces are not finding it much difficult to clear the road.

The five senior IAS officers, sent by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to Lalgarh to make an assessment of the situation and submit feedback to the government, have already reached Midnapore town, the headquarters of West Midnapore, and are on their way to Lalgarh, sources said.

Revenue Secretary C M Bachwat and Managing Director of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) Subrata Gupta are going to Lalgarh through Pirakta.

Principal Secretary, Agriculture, Sanjeeb Chopra, Principal Secretary, PHE, Sourav Das and Special Secretary, Finance Bikram Sen are going to Lalgarh through Ramgarh, police said.