Crime tracking network system by 2011-12: Home Minister

New Delhi, Sept 18 (PTI) The Rs 2,000-crore project to
bring all 16,000 police stations in India under a single
network to counter terror challenges will become operational
by 2011-12, Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram said Friday.

He also said the Multi Purpose National Identity Cards
(MNIC) will be issued to 1.1 billion resident Indians after
the completion of enumeration work next year.

"We are working on Crime and Criminal Tracking Network
and Systems (CCTNS). That will link each of the 16,000 police
station in India so that any of the police station can contact
any other police station," he said inaugurating a conference
of small entrepreneurship here.

Chidambaram said all the states have appointed nodal
officers and all of them have signed MoUs with the Central
government for its early completion.

Once the CCTNS is completed, it will mark a quantum jump
in country's ability to counter various challenges to internal
security, particularly terror threats.

The Home Minister asked technocrats to help the
government build a National Counter-terrorism Centre on the
lines of the US.

"If the US can have a National Counter-terrorism Centre,
why can't we have one in India. So, I wish that your
entrepreneurial activities will help us build a sound
technology-based system that will enhance the security and
efficiency in India...," he said. More PTI