Assam Police to launch 'Citizen Portal'

Guwahati, Aug 30: Assam Police will roll out its 'Citizen Portal' within the next two-three months which will enable the common man to register a complaint with the police from their homes.

"The Citizen Portal is a very ambitious project of Assam Police. It is almost ready and the pilot testing of the citizen services is going on. The formal launch will take place within next two-three months," Assam Additional Director General of Police (Communication) Anil Kumar Jha told PTI.

The portal is being developed under Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) project of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs is being implemented in every state, he said.

"The biggest grievance against police stations that we get from the people is non-registration of complaints. With the operationalisation of the Citizen Portal, this bottleneck will be removed. Anyone will be able to file a complaint from anywhere and nobody needs to request anyone," Jha said.

Elaborating, he said an advantage of the proposed online services would be that people can file complaints against erring senior police official, which is usually not registered by lower ranked officials at the police stations.

"In fact, a person will be able to file a complaint against any official of any rank of any department. The entire objective of the Citizen Portal is to take policing to the doorstep of the public," the ADGP said.

A complainant would need to visit the police station only to give his or her signature and to collect the FIR copy. Even this procedure may be abolished once digital signature is provided to all citizens in future.

Apart from registering complaints, the Citizen Portal will also offer tenant, employee and domestic help verifications, meet character certificate requests, give permissions for procession, strikes, protest or similar events, programme and performance intimation and foreigner registration services.

"After logging in the portal, a citizen will be able to download the forms, which can be filled up offline and uploaded to the system. Once the forms are uploaded, SMS and e-mail acknowledgement will be sent for future tracking and references," Jha said.

Availability of public information like missing persons, unidentified peoples, bodies, motor vehicle tracking system and advisories will also be made as an online source. In future, the portal can also integrated with courts, forensic science laboratories, jails and passport services, Jha added.

PTI