In a new initiative, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has launched a system that can be used by citizens to block mobile phones if they have been stolen. The technology has been developed by the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT), a government-funded research facility and has been introduced now for only those residing in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Under this scheme, if a person’s mobile phone is lost or stolen, he or she has to file an FIR with the nearest police station and then access the website https://ceir.gov.in/ to register the complaint. The person has to provide the FIR details and the details of his/her address proof. The IMEI number of the lost/stolen mobile number has to be provided. A unique registration number for the complaint will be generated and should be saved to be used for tracking the status. It is hoped that around 50 million mobile phone users in the NCR should be benefitted by this.
The scheme itself was officially launched by the Union Minister for Telecommunications, Ravi Shankar Prasad. He said this is an initiative aimed at providing the security of the mobile phones. He pointed out how the criminally inclined individuals beat technological advancements to commit their crimes and this is a step in trying to curb this. Once a mobile phone is blocked using the unique 15-digit IMEI number, the device will be of no use to anybody. If the phone is tracked and restored to the owner, then it can be unblocked through the same website referred to above.
This facility to track and block stolen/lost mobile phones will be eventually expanded to cover the entire nation.