New Delhi: Ahead of tomorrow's Raksha Bandhan festival, the Centre has put on maximum alert all states, asking them to take every precaution to ensure peace.

The Union Home Ministry has issued advisories to all states directing them to step up security measures and keep an eye on crowded places and thoroughly check vehicles.

The advisory comes in the wake of the twin blasts in Hyderabad on Saturday which claimed 40 lives.

MHA sources today said the state governments have been told to beef up security and intensify intelligence gathering at local level. In the national capital, security has already been tightened and the police personnel have been asked to be "more vigilant" and carry out "vigorous searches" at crowded markets and shopping malls.

High alert has also been sounded at railway and metro stations and inter-state bus terminals.