New Delhi, February 10
Alarmed over the dangerously increasing incidents of organised inter-state crime in the country, several state governments are contemplating to put in place a standardised nation-wide computer software to hasten the pace of information dissmination to track criminals.
The software, V-Cop, is being indigenously developed by Indian enterprise software and database solution provider, CMC.
“Almost all states of the North and Central India have envinced interest in the software and discussions are at an advanced stage”, CMC Managing Director S.S. Ghosh told The Tribune.
“The roll-out should take place very soon. It will depend on the infrastructure. If the states want us to put in place the infrastructure as well then we are ready for it”, Mr Ghosh said.
The objective is to connect all police stations in the country - numbering approximately 25,000 - through a standardised pan-India network.
“On the one hand it will increase operational efficiency, and on the other, it will save precious time in tracking criminals across states”, he said.
Already, there is a special software called FACT is in place for fingerprints in 14 states with a centrally located server at National Crime Records Bureau in Delhi.
It is learnt that the project is being promoted by the government as a major e-governance initiative and the Centre is keen that most of the states have their police forces networked through a software at the shortest possible time.
Joint Secretary in the Department of Information Technology R Chandrashekhar said that the Tenth Five Year Plan has identified e-governance as one of the major areas and the planning commission and the Centre is presently in the process of finalising the amount of funds to be earmarked for the purpose.
The Andhra Pradesh Police has already installed a similar software in developed by the global database major Oracle Corporation.
Oracle Corporation and Hewlett Packard have joined hands to set up a centre of excellence in e-governance in Gurgaon to tap the growing opportunities in the computerisation of government sector.
The potential areas identified include national security, which is crucial for countries like India, Oracle Corporation, Executive Vice-President for Asia Pacific Derek Williams told mediapersons here. He disclosed that the company has already developed platform for the national security.
The centre will provide a platform for the development of e-governance applications and showcase the existing applications used by Oracle and HP, Oracle India Ltd Managing Director Shekhar Dasgupta said. The Centre will be supported by CMC and PriceWaterhouse Coopers.
