Money unused, intel grid takes a cut

Two ambitious security-related projects of the Home Ministry — the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) and Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS) — have suffered substantial cuts in their budgets because of non-utilisation of money allocated to them last year.

NATGRID, which will combine a number of different databases like those of banks, insurance companies, rail and flight records into a single integrated database for access by authorised officers, has been given only Rs 56.5 crore this year, down from Rs 364.15 crore last year. During the current financial year, the project is expected to use only Rs 10.89 crore of the Rs 364.15 crore.

Similarly, the CCTNS, which is working to network crime-related data in all the police stations of the country, is likely to utilise only Rs 46 crore of the Rs 400 crore allocated to it in the last Budget. As a result, this year it has been given only Rs 276.25 crore.

NATGRID and CCTNS are two of the most important projects being undertaken by the ministry to monitor unlawful activities and prevent possible criminal acts.

The Home Ministry has been allocated Rs 59,241 crore this year, out of which Rs 52,265 crore has been given for expenditure towards various central police organisations. The Budget for the police forces has gone up by 12 per cent as compared to last year.

The allocations of all the central police forces like CRPF, BSF, NSG and ITBP have seen an increase.

A major hike in resources has been provided for modernisation of police forces. An amount of Rs 1,850 crore has been given for this purpose, as compared to just Rs 900 crore last year of which only Rs 300 crore could be utilised. The extra money is likely to be utilised for upgradation of police infrastructure in the various states, including building of more police stations and recruitment of policemen.

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