Rajnath Singh ropes in Ajit Doval for early implementation of Criminal Tracking Network

NEW DELHI: The much delayed Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) is set to be fast tracked with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh roping in National Security (NSA) Advisor Ajit Doval for its early implementation. Last week, Singh also cleared the cabinet note urging the union cabinet to restore Rs 1,100 crores for CCTNS that will allow more than 14,000 police stations across the country to share data on crime and criminals.
This is second time that Home Ministry has moved a proposal before the union cabinet to restore the funds, said an official. In April this year, the finance ministry had deducted the funds for CCTNS in the 2015-16 Union budget and transfer the scheme to states, which are expected to fund it from their increased share of central taxes. However, the Home Ministry was of the view that CCTNS is going to be a game changer in improving police citizen interface and cannot be left mid-way.
It is for these reasons that North block made a presentation before the PMO making a strong pitch for restoration of funds before moving the union cabinet. According to MHA, there are more than 11000 police stations across India which is now connected through this network. Of these, about 9,300 police stations have switched to registering FIRs exclusively through this platform, claimed officials.
In its note, the Home Ministry is also learnt to have provided the services which will be linked to the CCTNS including a central citizen portal that will provide a number of citizen friendly services including police verification for passport verification, reporting a crime including cyber offences, linkage with UIDAI, National Population Register (NPR) and transport database.
Once cleared, the database will also have list of proclaimed offenders, sex offenders and most wanted criminals which will be published on this portal, said officials. They also added that in states like Bihar and Rajasthan, the scheme has been held up due to cancellation of the contract with the vendors, said officials. From the total outlay of Rs 2,000 crore in 2009, the Centre has already spent Rs 900 crore in six years.
Officials of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), which implements and monitors the progress of CCTNS among states, acknowledged that in the past funds have been spent inappropriately due to lack of planning and monitoring. In August, the Home Ministry also organised a workshop with all the stakeholders of the project including representatives from state governments where it was felt that there needs to be a central integration of the project with other e-governance systems of NPR and UIDAI.