After admitting that the joint Centre-state security operations to flush out Maoists from Lalgarh had met with little success in the two months since it started, the state government on Thursday said the second phase of the operation was about to begin.

Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen and DGP Bhupinder Singh visited West Midnapore on Thursday and held a meeting with senior police and district officials.

“The next phase of the operation will start very soon. We will also take the people in the area into confidence,” Sen said. “There is no possibility of calling off the operations unless the entire area is free from Maoists,” he added after meeting senior officers of the Central and state police forces engaged in the operations.

Sen said the Central forces would stay on in Lalgarh for a long period of time and their withdrawal would be considered only after a review of the security situation. “They will stay in Lalgarh at least till September when the situation will be reviewed again,” the home secretary said.

Sen said since the operations started around two months ago, 67 people have been arrested from Lalgarh and adjoining areas, of which 23 are Maoists. At present, 17 companies of Central police forces and an equal number of companies from the state police are engaged in Lalgarh and adjoining areas.

According to sources, the offensive against Maoists will be scaled up in the second phase, where security forces will strike specific targets in the jungle areas where Maoist squads are believed to be holed up.