Police stations in Patna and Bhagalpur would start online registration of complaints of crime from next year.

Work on the project of the Union ministry of home affairs to connect all police stations across the country through crime and criminal tracking network system is going on in full swing in the two districts.

Both Patna and Bhagalpur have been selected for the pilot project aimed at keeping records of crime and criminals and help the law enforcing agency to arrest the hardened offenders, who often succeed in dodging the men in uniform after committing grievous offences.

There are about 120 police stations in Patna and Bhagalpur districts and they would be connected to the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB). The SCRB would be finally linked with the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

“We have completed the ground work of the project and its first phase is expected to be completed by the end of this year,” said Jitendra Kumar, inspector-general, Bihar Military Police, who has been appointed as the nodal officer of the project.

He added that the software and the hardware for computing records at the police stations would be made available by the NCRB to the state by December.

The agreement between the agency and Beltron would be signed shortly. The NCRB has assigned the SCRB with the task to develop the software and the hardware of the computing project, while Beltron is the state’s nodal agency to implement information technology. The IG said: “Once the software is provided to the SCRB, the process of computing data (records) will start at the police stations in the two districts. Around 10,000 policemen have received basic computer training and they would be deployed at the police stations for the computing task.

Sources in the state police headquarters said district mission teams, headed by superintendents of police (SPs), have been set up for timely execution of the project. The SPs have been told to monitor the ongoing training programme at the district level.

Police personnel right from constables to sub-inspectors are receiving training in batches at training centres in each district. However, the police personnel on the verge of retirement have not been included in the training programme.

The sources said the NCRB has sanctioned Rs 60 crore for installation of computers, computer rooms and other required gadgets, while the state government has agreed in principle to provide Rs 14 crore for the project. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) would provide connections to the police stations so that they could be connected through the SCRB.

“BSNL has done a survey and authorities concerned have made the initial payment for providing connections,” a senior officer associated with the project said.

He added that in the first phase, the police stations would be connected with the district headquarters. In the second phase, the police stations would be connected with the SCRB. The police stations would have direct links with the NCRB in the final project.

During a recent video conferencing, outgoing chief secretary Navin Kumar had suggested the SPs to seek help of technology in containing crime.

“Though the basic system of policing should not be changed, there is no harm in taking help of technology in detection of crime,” Kumar had told the SPs and other police officers during the video conferencing. Chief minister Nitish Kumar was also present at the video conferencing.