By IANS,
Lucknow : The Uttar Pradesh government will set up a state-level committee to monitor and check manufacture and circulation of fake currency notes following directions of the central home ministry, officials informed Wednesday.
“A government order has also been issued in this regard,” a police official at the office of the director general of police (DGP), Uttar Pradesh, informed IANS.
The decision, according to the official who requested anonymity, was taken after a fake currency racket amounting to nearly Rs.20 million surfaced recently in the State Bank of India’s (SBI) Domariyaganj branch neighbouring the Nepal border.
The committee, headed by the DGP, will have senior officials of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the state police, Crime Branch of the Criminal Investigation Department (CBCID), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and other related departments as its members.
The committee will hold quarterly meetings and the findings and proceedings of the meetings will be sent to the internal security department, the nodal agency of the central home ministry, a source informed.
On Tuesday, Uttar Pradesh police chief Vikram Singh held a meeting with top bank officials here and discussed steps to curb the fake currency menace in the state.
“Special vigil should be kept on banks located in the border districts and the police should be immediately informed if any person or activity is noticed,” Singh said.
The committee will be formed on district levels after the EOW identifies the “fake currency prone” districts.
“The committee, in the districts, will be headed by the district magistrate,” a source informed IANS.
The districts will send the findings to the state committee on regular basis, also suggesting possible steps to curb the menace, added the source.
According to police statistics, eight fake currency cases have been reported in various districts of the state since May this year and over Rs.30 million in fake currency notes have been recovered.