Govt portal pins 898,000 missing phones, less than 15% recovered: DoT

Only 1.43% of traced stolen phones finally recovered, 69% in Telangana

The Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has traced 8.99 lakh lost or stolen mobile phones and blocked 16.13 lakh devices since its inception on May 16 last year. While the recovery rate of stolen devices has inched up in recent months, it remains less than 15 per cent nationally.

The latest Sanchar Sathi portal data shows that 1.31 lakh devices or 14.6 per cent of the phones traced, have been recovered nationwide. According to government estimates, around 50,000 mobile phones are stolen every month in the country.

However, the recovery rates vary widely. The Telangana circle has the best record so far, recovering nearly 69 per cent of the phones tracked, followed by Andhra Pradesh (60 per cent) and Rajasthan (38.35 per cent). Meanwhile, Delhi Police recovered only 1.43 per cent of all tracked phones.

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The majority of tracking requests are registered by users themselves, while the recovery is facilitated by police departments across the country, officials said.

While the portal utilises cutting-edge tech to quickly track and block missing or stolen devices, only on-ground police work can recover the devices.

“The number of recoveries has risen a lot, but remains low, considering that the location of many phones is now being accurately tracked. The issue had been raised with state home departments,” a senior DoT official said.

The DoT has directed telecom operators for the pan India blocking of 28,200 mobile handsets, which were misused in cybercrimes. Orders for the immediate reverification of 20 lakh mobile connections linked to these mobile handsets have been issued, it said on Friday. These will be disconnected after failing re-verification.