NMMC COLLECTS ` 20K FINES IN CRACKDOWN ON PLASTIC MENACE Know all about cybercrimes, beware of fake bank employees

Police to hold seminars, workshops and competitions from Monday

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has collected a total fine of Rs20,000 in its anti-plastic drive that started last week.

The civic body, which had stopped its drive against the use of plastic for the past two year, resumed the crackdown in Vashi last week. Around nine shopkeepers were fined for using plastic bags below 50 microns.

“We have instructed our ward officers to conduct drives in their respective wards regularly. Shops selling plastic below 50 microns will be fined,” said Ankush Chavan, city additional commissioner, NMMC.

Officials said they will also conduct anti-plastic campaigns in which they will organise seminars and put up posters.

“We have already started putting up hoardings and we will also conduct awareness campaigns,” said Prakash Waghmare assistant municipal commissioner, encroachment department, NMMC..

Plastic pollution is a growing concern in the city. The Environment Status Report 201415 of NMMC stated that of the total 700 metric tonnes of solid waste collected in the city daily, around 15% was plastic waste.

Officials said although they had been planning to begin the crackdown a few months earlier, it got delayed as all the departments had been tied up with administrative work and the smart city campaign.

In view of the rising cases of cybercrime, the Navi Mumbai police has planned a cyber- safety week from December 14 to 19 to spread awareness about these crimes and their precautions.

This is the second time the Navi Mumbai police are organising such an initiative. A series of workshops on social media have been planned. The police will also organise seminars on cyber terrorism and digital piracy. A number of competitions cybercrime related will be held during the week at several educational institutions, housing colonies and auditoriums.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, police commissioner Prabhat Ranjan said, “We have planned seminars on data security, intellectual property rights ( IPR), social media and cyber terrorism. Apart from drawing competitions, there will also be seminars on digital evidence search and seizure, banking and financial crime and digital privacy. This year’s theme is ‘be aware, be secure’.”

On the need for the cyber safety week, Ranjan said, “These days, most crimes involve use of technology as criminals use mobile phones and the Internet too. We have had to adapt to new technology to crack cases.”

He added, “The cybercriminals are a well-educated lot and mostly young. It is important that the youth do not cross the line.”

“We are organising the cybersafety week to generate awareness among the citizens and netizens so that they can shield themselves from cybercrime,” said Dilip Sawant, deputy commissioner of police (crime).

“Today cybercrime is increasing and criminals are anony- mous in most of the cases. Innocent people have lost crores of rupees owing to ignorance about safety and security. I believe prevention is better than cure,” said Sawant.

In August this year, the Navi Mumbai police increased the strength of its cyber cell by 45%. As of now, the cell has a total of 17 officials — one inspector, one sub inspector, one assistant inspector and fourteen consta- bles.

Not only in Navi Mumbai, Mumbai too has seen as increase in cybercrimes. Till November this year, 748 cases of cybercrime were registered in Mumbai and last year’s figure was 524.

A total of 169 cases were reported in 2013 and 62 in 2012.

The statistics indicates that maximum cases involve credit or debit card frauds, which jumped from the 158 cases last year to 255 this year. Most of these crimes took place after ‘vishing calls’ in which a fraudster calls a person posing as a bank executive and on the pretext of verification gets the card details and PIN and then makes online purchases.

This modus operandi has become very common.

The ‘ vishing calls’ have become a headache for the police as unsuspecting people fall prey to fake bank officials.