Advancing the Uttar Pradesh Police’s efforts to check cyber crime, 57 new cyber police stations will be set up in the state within the next two months, the state government said on Saturday.

This decision came after a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to review the cyber security arrangements in the state, an official release issued here said.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath assured the state police that the government will equip them at all levels to effectively control cybercrime.

He directed that the cyber crime police stations, currently operating at the regional level, be expanded to all 75 districts and the cyber cells currently operating at the district level, be expanded to all police stations, the release said.

Following the instructions of the chief minister, 57 new cyber police stations will be set up in the state within the next two months, while cyber cells will also be functional in every police station apart from cyber help desks. All cyber police stations will be set up in local police lines, the release added.

“In recent times, the nature of crime has changed due to the misuse of technology. Diverse kinds of cyber frauds related to customer care, pension, electricity bill, work from home, sextortion, loan app, parcel, franchisee, fake betting app, crypto investment fraud and ponzi scheme fraud are being seen today. The common man is becoming a direct victim of this. To avoid this, we have to be vigilant at every level", the chief minister was quoted as saying in the release.

Emphasising that awareness was the most important means to prevent cyber crimes, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath instructed officials to prepare awareness material at the earliest and implement it, in addition to making it part of the school curriculum.

Apart from this, by training basic shiksha adhikaris (BSAs) and district inspector of schools (DIOS) as master trainers, the principals and teachers should be sensitised about cyber crime in a phased manner followed by students and their parents, he added.

Furthermore, stressing the need for proper training of the police force for the investigation of cyber crimes, the chief minister said that five police officers from each district should be trained at the state level and these trained officers should train five inspectors/sub-inspectors from each police station of their district regarding the course available on the portal.