Bhubaneswar: In view of rising cybercrime cases, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday announced to set up 11 new police stations to deal with cybercrime and economic offence cases across the State.
Cybercrime is very much involved in bank transactions and complex digital transactions. Therefore, special knowledge and skills are required to properly investigate and control these crimes. Therefore, the State government took this decision to open 11 special police stations in different parts of the State, he said.
The new police stations will be set up at Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Keonjhar, Angul, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Puri, Koraput, Bhawanipatna, Balangir and Kandhamal.
At present, three such police stations are there at Sambalpur, Rourkela and Berhampur. These three police stations will also be merged with the new system. With the opening of new police stations, the total number of such police stations in Odisha will reach to 14.
A total of 154 posts have been created in the police department for appointment in these police stations. The approved posts include 14 inspector, 28 sub-inspector, 28 ASI (communications), 28 constable (communications) and 56 constable posts.
In addition to the above manpower, 90 experts, including finance and accounts analyst, IT expert, and cyber forensic expert, will be appointed in the police stations.
The Chief Minister is hopeful that this step will help in curbing cybercrime and economic offences in the State as well as delivery of speedy justice to the people.
Cybercrime is a major concern around the world. Odisha is also witnessing a number of cybercrime incidents. Cybercrime offences were increased by 31 per cent in Odisha in 2020 as compared to 2019. Altogether 1475 cases were registered in 2019, which was increased to 1931 cases in 2020.