Telangana ranks second in India for recovering stolen or lost mobile phones, averaging 76 recoveries daily, according to a senior police official on Tuesday. Since the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) portal launched on April 19, 2023, the state police have recovered 30,049 mobile devices. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) developed the portal to combat mobile theft and counterfeit devices.Karnataka leads the country with 35,945 recovered mobile phones, followed by Telangana. Maharashtra ranks third with 15,426 recoveries, and Andhra Pradesh is fourth with 7,387 devices.
Although the portal was officially launched nationwide on May 17, 2023, Telangana started using it on a pilot basis from April 19, 2023, said Shikha Goel, Additional Director General of Police (ADG), CID, and the nodal officer for the CEIR portal in Telangana. The portal is operational in all 780 police stations across the state. Mahesh Bhagwat, the previous ADG, CID, was the first state-level nodal officer to streamline mobile recovery within and outside the state.
Currently, Shikha Goel oversees the progress of the CEIR portal, noting that 1,000 devices have been recovered in the past nine days and returned to their owners. The highest number of recoveries have been made by the Hyderabad Commissionerate with 4,869 devices, followed by the Cyberabad Commissionerate with 3,078, and the Rachakonda Commissionerate with 3,042 devices. The Warangal Commissionerate recovered 1,919 devices, and Nizamabad recovered 1,556 devices. To improve user-friendliness and better serve citizens, Telangana Police, in coordination with DoT, has integrated the CEIR portal with the TS Police Citizen Portal. Citizens are encouraged to use this service on the TS Police Citizen Portal to report lost or missing mobile devices.