The Hindu : CM launches eCOPS

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 18, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

CM launches eCOPS

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD June 17. Andhra Pradesh crossed yet another IT milestone when the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, launched eCOPS (electronic- Computerised Operations for Police Services), described as the country's first state-wide online police network, here on Monday.

Mr. Naidu who filed an FIR to mark the launching, said it would make policing more effective and efficient. The network enables the citizen to register a complaint (FIR) at any police station irrespective of where he stays, check the status of the case again at any police station and provide access to the top most officers to take up grievances like slow progress. It would also help in getting information about criminals apprehended and property recovered across all the police stations in the State.

Within the Police department, the eCOPS ensures that the senior officers are always in control of the daily happenings at police stations, constable's time is used for crime solving rather than administrative job and there is immediate relay of information on thefts, missing persons, convicts and other law and order issues. Public related work is expected to happen quicker in prisons, hospitals, Collectorates, municipalities, RTAs, Passport office, Revenue department, Forensic laboratories, Crime Record Bureau and the Home Ministry.

The Chief Minister wanted the facility now confined to three Commissionerates of Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada besides Ranga Reddy and Srikakulam districts, be extended to the last police station in the State within a year. "AP Police should become a role model in use of IT, for the entire country''. He said eCOPS was part of the Government's efforts to offer real time cost effective, transparent, corruption-free, integrated services to the people through the Internet.

The Home Minister, T. Devender Goud, said though there were some hiccups leading to some delay, the project had been successfully launched. As suggested by the Chief Minister, it would cover the entire State in a year's time. The GIS and GPS project in Hyderabad, for uses such as monitoring of traffic movement, would be launched in six months.

The Commercial Taxes Minister, K. Vijayarama Rao, spoke. The Tourism Minister, T. Srinivas Yadav, the Director General of CISF, H. J. Dora, the Principal Secretary for Home department, Murali Krishna, who released the English brochure for eCOPS, the City Police Commissioner, M. V. Krishna Rao, and a large number of police officers attended. J. Satyanarayana, Principal Secretary, IT, said the Government had ambitious plan of offering e-services to citizens, 50 times bigger than eCOPS.

The Director General of Police, P. Ramulu, said transparency would be the hallmark of eCOPS. S. V. Ramana Murthy, Inspector General of Police, Police Computer Services, the police officer behind the project, said eCOPS was the first and only one of its kind in India, set to enhance performance and improve productivity of police personnel besides reducing paper work substantially.

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