An ambitious project to create a comprehensive and integrated system for effective policing and sharing data of crimes and criminals among 14,000 police stations across the country was formally launched in the national capital on Friday.

The Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) aims at creation of a nation-wide networking infrastructure for evolution of IT-enabled sophisticated tracking system around 'investigation of crime and detection of criminals'.

Launching the project, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said CCTNS project would make a quantum jump in the ability of law enforcement agencies to check crime and nab criminals.

It will create a comprehensive and integrated system for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of policing through adopting of principle of e-governance.

The chief secretaries and DGPs of all states were present on the occasion.

Under the CCTNS project, which was conceived by the then Home Minister P Chidambaram after the Mumbai terror attack, approximately 14,000 police stations throughout the country will be connected apart from higher offices in police hierarchy.

The Rs 2,000 crore project, approved in 2009, spans across all the 35 states and Union Territories. It will be connected to a total of more than 21,000 locations.

Home Secretary R K Singh said the CCTNS would be a comprehensive database for crimes and criminals, and it would be easier for the law enforcement agencies to track down a criminal moving from one place to another.

Singh said it will bring more transparency in police administration as a person can lodge complaint on-line and get a status report of the complaint on-line too.

"This will be a wide data base. It will help in arresting criminals and investigating any case. This will be a big milestone," he said.

Singh said the CCTNS will help senior police officers to keep a tab on people's complaints and progress of any investigation.

Minister of State for Home RPN Singh said CCTNS will create a nation-wide environment for real-time sharing of crime and criminal information.

"At the beginning of 2013 we are all faced with a great challenge...the challenge of being responsive to the citizens of India...that you and I work for. While no one can stop the evil in men...we can and must make sure that evil is punished in a way that is a deterrent to criminals," the Minister said.

Referring to the gang-rape of a girl in Delhi, Singh said "we could not protect this one daughter of India but now we have to protect the over a billion men and women for whom we are all responsible. This is the greatest service we can do for our country."