Guwahati: Tracing stolen and lost mobile phones from trains and railway premises has now become easier for Railway Protection Force (RPF) of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR). Once passenger reports their lost/theft mobile phones in the Rail Madad App; Cyber Crime Wing of NFR facilitates tracing the mobile with the help of Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) portal of Department of Telecommunications (DoT). As of now, the portal will help in tracing such lost devices across telecom service networks of Assam.

Principal Chief Security Commissioner (PCSC)/NFR coordinated with Local police & Law Enforcing Agencies of Guwahati and chalked out the access plan for CEIR for N. F. Railway. Representative from PCSC office of NFR coordinated with concerned officials of the Ministry of Communication at New Delhi. After detailed discussion and justification, access to CEIR portal was given to RPF/NFR for Assam state as a pilot project.  A User Id and Password was generated in favour of CSC/NFR by DoT, through CEIR official in coordination with CID-HQ/Assam on 19th April, 2024.

On 22nd April, 2024, RPF/NFR started operations by uploading the details of lost/stolen mobiles in the CEIR portal. As on 09th May, 2024, 36 lost/stolen mobiles have been blocked through CEIR portal by RPF/NFR. So far 15 mobiles got activated and traceability report received on CEIR of the lost/stolen mobile. Out of 15 mobiles, 07 mobiles have been successfully recovered with arrest of 03 criminals and 01 receiver by RPF/NFR.  The CEIR access has given RPF/NFR to effectively detect the cell-phone thefts from trains and railway premises over Assam state. RPF of NFR is the first zonal railway of Indian Railways to get access to this CEIR facility. RPF/NFR is also planning to use to CEIR facility across all the states under its jurisdiction.

Rampant incidences of cell-phone thefts from within train compartments and on railway premises have emerged as a serious concern, putting a strain on the resources of RPF. Despite the best efforts to apprehend the criminals; the RPF/NFR approach often appears sporadic and lacks systematic institutional support. To overcome this, the access to CEIR portal will play a major role in dealing with such type of menace.