Even as anti-naxal operation involving over 60,000 central security personnel is underway, naxal affected states like West Bengal and Orissa top the list of states with less than sanctioned strength of IPS officers.

While the sanctioned strength of IPS officers in West Bengal, which recently witnessed the worst naxal attack this year leaving 24 security personnel dead, is 297, the actual strength is only 226, a shortfall of 71.

In neighbouring Orissa, which is also a haven of naxals and a crucial area for anti-naxal operations, there is a shortfall of 60 IPS officers, as per the latest home ministry figures.

The combined shortage of officers in seven of the most Naxal affected states - Orissa, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh - is 253, which is about 40 per cent of the national figure of 630.