It’s not the disbanding of Modernisation of Police Forces (MPF) scheme by the Centre that is going to hit the State police hard, rather the passing-over of the Crime and Criminal Tracking Networking System (CCTNS) project to States would rock hard the cause of common man and State police alike.
As CCTNS not only could have made the dingy police stations a ‘smart’ library with all crime-criminal info just a click away but also have moulded brash SHOs (Station House Officers) more transparent and accountable to common men on street.
According to Joint Secretary, Police Modernisation Division, V Vumlunmang, the Budget 2015-16 has only discontinued the Plan support under MPF scheme. The Plan component of MPF was conceptualised only in 2013-14 and under it the Centre provided assistance to States to augment police infrastructure like police building and housing. But vital policing infra like mobility, weapons, training equipment, computerisation,
forensic work and Mega City Policing Plan were covered under non-plan component and the Budget 15-16 has earmarked `595 crore, he informed. Odisha would receive Central assistance to tune of `14.5 crore in 15-16. This shows State police’s
combating-cum-investigating ability stands un-compromised as flow of funds to continue under this head.
Significantly, Odisha has only 7 per cent of its police posts/SDPO offices being operated from hired buildings. In contrast, a deficiency level of around 20 per cent is being felt in vehicles available with State police and actual required, data suggests. Around 13-15 police stations in State don’t have basic communication facilities like phones or wireless system.
However, the transfer of CCTNS to State would severely affect all stakeholders as the Odisha Government has been a reluctant performer in computerising and digitising police stations. Even, the State Budget 2015-16 has announced a token rise of `27 lakh for computers and wireless. How poor is State police funded could well be ascertained from the 2013-14 final expenditure data, which reveals that total police expenditure in Odisha forms a measly 0.2 per cent of total State expenditure against the national average of around 3 per cent. A look at the CCTNS progress sheet reveals yawning gaps in Odisha. From a total of around 25-30 lakh data migration or digitisation required, the achievement stood at mere 18,000 only.
Moreover, around 6 lakh records’ migration is still under progress. And of around 784 sites, only 745 sites were commissioned. The lone heartening fact is link has been commissioned in the State up to District Crime Record Centres (DRCs) for seamless transfer of info.
Successful completion of CCTNS could enable the top cops at the State Police Headquarters to access real-time data from all districts for analysing and further processing it so as to generate actionable inputs for District Police Headquarters and even exchange with their other State counterparts to effectively tackle serious offensive crime modules in operation by organised gangs, drug peddlers and Naxals. For common man, in one click they can track their FIRs, cases under trial, register grievances, view recovered vehicles info and above all get real-time response from police on any emergency call.