In the wake of the Nithari serial killings, the Uttar Pradesh police is set to introduce a new format to file reports of missing children.

The new format will require more information, such as academic performance of the child, the money carried by the child at the time he/she went missing and mobile number.

"This will help us in predicting the likely reason for the child to have gone missing, and will also help us in locating the child," SSP (Lucknow) Rajiv Krishna told UNI.

The person filing the report will also have to submit 10 photos of the missing child, he said.

All NGOs dealing with missing children, vagabonds on railway stations and bus stands, street urchins, child beggars and the likes, can contact SP (Rural Areas) if they wish to help.

"The media has also been asked to highlight such cases. Doordarshan has already been contacted. If other channels are interested, they are most welcome," Krishna said adding, that posters of the missing child would also be pasted at all public places.

Meanwhile, Lucknow has started tracking the district's missing minors. A list of all the minors, reported missing from the city during 2006, has been prepared by the police. Steps to find the current status of these juveniles are being taken.

In all, 532 reports of missing children below the age of 18 years were filed in various police stations of Lucknow from January 2006 to December 2006.

Of these, 30 children were below five years, 80 in the age group of 5-10 years and 420 in the age group of 10-18 years.

"According to our records, 468 of these kids have been accounted for," Krishna said.

The age of the missing child is important, he said adding, there were different connotations when a child of age up to five years goes missing.

Such children, in all likelihood, are kidnapped, unlike a missing child above 10 years who could have gone away on his/her own.

"This is the main reason for segregating the data under the three age groups," he explained.