New Delhi, March 10 (IANS) Realising the yawning gap in police vacancies in the six states worst hit by the Maoist insurgency, the union home ministry has once again written to state governments to know the police strength and the steps taken to plug the breach.

'Filling up police vacancies and training the personnel has become a vital component to the union government's strategy to launch operations against the armed rebels and we need to act on a war-footing,' said highly placed ministry sources.

With the government's decision to reassert civil administration in the rebel strongholds and firmly put down Maoist violence, sources in the ministry feel the state police forces should begin to get their act together and have adequate manpower in place.

According to home ministry figures, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattishgarh, Madhya Pradesh alone have a deficiency of over 70,000 policemen while the national figure is over 300,000 personnel.

As it assesses how much central forces would be required to launch operations in areas affected by Left wing extremism, the ministry feels that state government should begin at least by filling vacancies in these hot spots.

Officials point out that crushing the Maoist challenge is going to be a long haul as the armed rebel cadres were entrenched in these no-go areas.

Left wing extremists continue to target vital installations such as communication towers, rail and transport links that has led to the loss of millions of rupees to the exchequer.

Home Secretary G.K. Pillai has already admitted that it would take at least 7-10 years before the affected states assert authority and take control of civil administration that has been neglected over the years.

'At least the 13th Financial Commission in its latest report has pledged Rs.2,200 crore ($480 million) for police training. This will help but states must begin to show initiative and urgency in this aspect,' said a senior home ministry official.

A massive offensive is being planned to eliminate Maoists in the rebel strongholds and the operation will involve nearly 20,000 specially trained personnel drawn from the paramilitary and state police forces.

Many of these troops, trained in jungle warfare, are already deployed to counter the rebels.

West Bengal, which has witnessed fierce violence in the last few months, has already got 22 companies of central paramilitary forces and the government has promised six more.

Last year alone, Maoist violence accounted for over 1,100 deaths, the highest in recent years.