Kolkata, Feb 9 (IANS) Reiterating his offer for talks if Maoists halted violence, Home Minister P. Chidambaram Tuesday said the government was forced to continue its operations in Maoist insurgency-hit states as the rebels had spurned previous such appeals.

'The government was forced to continue with its operation. These operations will continue and will be followed by development of the areas (dominated by Maoists),' Chidambaram told reporters here.

'My appeal to Naxals (as the leftwing guerrillas are known) is if you abjure violence, that is if you call a halt to violence, we are not asking you do anything more, we are prepared to talk to you,' the minister said.

He was in Kolkata for a meeting with top officials of West Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar. Taking part in the meeting to discuss the Maoist threat were the chief ministers of West Bengal and Orissa, the two deputy chief ministers of Jharkhand and top officials of all four states.

The home minister said the progress of the operation against guerrillas had been 'slow but steady' and cited the arrest of some key leaders of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist to back his claim.

'The progress is slow and steady. You cannot measure it like a cricket match score board. In fact considerable progress has been made... We will continue to make progress.

'Many key leaders (of Maoists) have been apprehended in the past few months... We'll reclaim the areas dominated by Naxalites,' he said.

Chidambaram said the operations had been 'measured and calibrated' with no collateral damage.

'And contrary to what sections of the media and NGOs propagated a few months ago that there would be a massive carnage, no such thing has happened. We have made it very clear that the purpose of these operations is not to kill anyone.

'These are our own people, we care for them, we care for their lives. The object is to re-establish civil administration in areas now dominated by Naxalites. I think progress will be slow but steady,' he said.

The minister admitted that there were inadequacies in the security offensive but added that these would be overcome.