Ranchi, Aug 4 (IANS): West Bengal was going slow against the Maoists in bordering areas and this has affected operations against the guerrillas in neighbouring Jharkhand, a Jharkhand police official said Thursday.

Jharkhand Director General of Police Gauri Shankar Rath told IANS: "Definitely, the operations taking place on our side will be affected."

"We are carrying out operations against Maoists in our state based on intelligence inputs," he added.

According to Jharkhand police officials, the Maoists will get time to strengthen their base in bordering areas and the guerrillas will use West Bengal as safe heaven by taking shelter there.

West Bengal's border areas have always been a problem in carrying out operations against Maoists, the officials pointed out.

"The Maoists will get chance to regroup and re-plan their strategy by taking shelter in West Bengal. There is history that Maoists use the peace dialogue process to strengthen their positions by hampering the dialogue by executing attacks," said a police official involved in anti-Maoist operation.

Jharkhand is one of the worst Maoist-affected state of the country where 18 of the 24 districts are suffering from Maoist insurgency.