Gandhinagar: The state home department is preparing an e-FIR project which will allow citizens to file complaints regarding mobile and vehicle thefts online without having to go to a police station. The project will be opened up for the citizens shortly once the software and portal are ready.

The police are often reluctant to file complaints of mobile and vehicle thefts and of chain-snatching out of fear that the areas under their control would get portrayed as areas with high crime rates. They keep delaying the filing of an FIR for months in such incidents citing lack of evidence.

To obviate the need of approaching the police, the home department is developing a portal that will allow citizens to file complaints of thefts from their own mobile, laptop or PC. This programme will be first implemented as a pilot project in the bigger cities and, if successful, will be implemented throughout the state. DeshGujarat.