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          Patna, Feb 19 (IANS) The Bihar government has asked top officials in the state's   Maoist-hit districts to take all precautionary measures during their official   visits to rural areas. It sounded an alert following the abduction of a   collector of Orissa's Malkangiri district, official said here Saturday. |  
  
      
	  
	  
	   "The government had made it clear to the officials posted in   Maoist-affected districts to take their security seriously during their visit to   rural areas," an official in the chief minister's office said.
 All   officials, particularly district magistrates and divisional commissioners, were   asked not to visit rural areas with only a few security men in view of the   Malkangiri incident.
 
 Bihar Police Chief Neelmani said: "The district   magistrates have to assess their security needs during visits to rural areas. It   is for them to decide upon their own security," he said.
 
 Neelmani pointed   that the Maoists abducted Malkangiri District Collector R. Veenel Krishna due to   lack of security forces during his visit to an interior part.
 
 According   to official sources, the government asked them to avoid kuchcha (temporary)   roads, use anti-landmine vehicles in vulnerable areas, and instructed them not   to use vehicles on culverts and small bridges and instead walk across.
 
 As   many as 33 of Bihar's 38 districts are Maoist-affected.
 
 
 
 
      
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