Digitized record of arms licences soon in India

Chhattisgarh government has initiated digitization of records of arms licences under the National Database of Arms Licence (NDAL) to curb illegal arms. 

 

Under the system, arms licence holders will be given smart cards linked to a central database being compiled by Union ministry of home affairs. District collectors in state have been told to collect all the information about the license holder and upload it on an online server. As per data available with authorities here, there are a total of 7,000 arms licence holders in state. 

 

"This would help keep tabs on gun runners and help police look up gun license holders," said a senior official. Civilians in the country own about four crore guns, legal and illegal. 

 

"The new system will allow integration of application submissions, acceptance of fee and delivery of licence from a single counter. The software will also allow online capturing of the applicant's photograph and automatic checking of the ceiling of number of weapons,'' said NK Aswal, additional chief secretary (Home). The database will allow police to track owners of firearms better and also enable applicants to view the status of their licence application. The online database will also help check the proliferation of ammunition. With the new system in place, there can be no room for forgery or duplication. The ministry of home affairs has also advised states to carry out verification of antecedents, background and criminal record of the holders if there is a doubt about the applicant. The police need to send their report after verification within 60 days to the authorities concerned. 

 

According to senior officials, this will plug loopholes in the system. 

 

ADM Raipur Sanjay Agarwal said in many districts, private weapons have become status symbols and a number of arms licence holders have taken licences from two or three districts in the same state. "With a centralised database, this duplication would now be prevented," he added.