Bhubaneswar, Dec 14 (IANS): With an aim to control rising cyber crime cases, the Odisha government has decided to set up 11 new police stations to deal with cyber crime and economic offence cases.

The announcement was made by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik through a statement on Tuesday.

As per the statement, the new police stations will be set up in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Keonjhar, Angul, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Puri, Koraput, Bhawanipatna, Balangir and Kandhamal.

At present, three such police stations are there at Sambalpur, Rourkela and Berhampur. These three police stations will also be merged with the new system, the statement said.

A total of 154 posts have been created in the police department for appointment in these police stations. The approved posts include 14 inspectors, 28 sub-inspectors, 28 ASIs (communications), and 28 constables (communications).

In addition to the above manpower, 90 experts, including finance and accounts analysts, IT experts, and cyber forensic experts, will be appointed in the police stations.

Odisha is witnessing a number of cyber crime incidents of late, with a rise of 31 per cent in 2020 as compared to 2019. Altogether, 1,475 cases were registered in 2019, which increased to 1,931 in 2020.

Cyber crime is common in bank transactions and complex digital transactions. Therefore, special knowledge and skills are required to properly investigate and control these crimes. So the state government has taken this decision to open 11 special police stations in different parts of the state, officials said.