To check proliferation and misuse of arms and ammunition, the licencing authorities in all Punjab districts will generate Unique Identification Number (UIN) for all arms licencees in the State.
The directions came by Director State Bureau of Investigation (BoI) Parbodh Kumar during a special technical workshop at Patiala with licencing authorities and district police chiefs.
The workshop was attended by all SSPs and DCs of Patiala zone, DIGs of Patiala and Ropar ranges and IG zone Patiala.
Addressing the officers, Director BoI informed that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has notified in Rule 11 of the Arms Rules, 2016 for generation of Unique Identification Number (UIN) for all arms licencees in National Database of Arms license-Arms license Issuance (NDAl-AlIS) system developed by National Informatics Center (NIC) with the objective to check proliferation and misuse of arms and ammunition.
He said Punjab DGP Suresh Arora has decided to conduct State-level technical workshops for the concerned licencing authorities and district police chiefs to apprise them of the technical aspects of the various provisions of the Arms Act to meet the objectives.
He said such proliferation was a serious challenge to the internal security of the country and the proposed UIN would create and update a dynamic central database of the arms licenses issued across the country.
Prabodh Kumar informed Punjab has the highest number of arms licence holders in the country. “Being a border State and having faced black days of terrorism, checking licit and illicit firearms within the State was a priority area for the Government to ensure peace, harmony and law & order for the citizens at large”, he added.