Worried that ambitious Crime and Criminal Tracking Network Systems (CCTNS) connecting all police stations in the state would stop functioning due to the Centre’s reluctance to release funds for it, the state government has released over Rs 22 crore to keep the system going for a year. The CCTNS project is a part of the modernisation of police stations that include data upgradation and sharing, profiles of criminals with biometric data.
“The Centre had given 100 per cent funds for the period of 2010 to 2012. However, no funds were received from the Centre post that. It is necessary to keep the project going and hence the state government decided to release Rs 22.56 crore for it,” an official from the home department said.
The funds released by the state would be utilised for network connectivity (Rs 1.56 crore), data digitisation (Rs 1.51 crore), district computer training centres (Rs 34.06 crore), hand holders (Rs 7.29 crore) and diesel generators set (Rs 11.84 crore), the official said.
“The CCTNS was undertaken to improve investigation and have speedy process to find criminals. It will also help collecting data related to crime. This will connect all the police stations, crime bureaus and state offices of the police department. The state criminal investigation department (CID) is the nodal agency for implementing CCTNS in the state, while PricewaterhouseCoopers is the project consultant, Wipro the system integrator and BSNL the network service provider,” the official said.
It is an ongoing project of the home department where 80 per cent of the work has been completed. However, the Centre’s reluctance in releasing funds held up the project for a few days. It is also part of the larger national project where data from all the police stations in the country will be connected via the Internet and information sharing will be much easier.
