Lucknow, Jan 7 : In an effort to strengthen government's role in ensuring punishment for culprits and criminals, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to set up offices of the prosecution department in nine districts. An official spokesman said that till now, the offices of the department were functioning either out of rented premises or within the collectorate premises. he said that this sometimes causes difficulties for the department in accommodating witnesses, especially if there was need to provide security to the witness in cases. 'With its own offices now, the department will be able to discharge its role with greater freedom and efficiency,' he said. The matter was raised before Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who then directed the department to immediately identify districts for setting up its own office. It has now been decided to set up offices in the districts of Chandauli, Chitrakoot, Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharajganj, Lalitpur, Firozabad, Moradabad, Sonbhadra and Banda. Currently, the department is in the process of marking land in the districts. Once that is done, approval will be taken from the government and the offices will be started. 'In keeping with the government's zero tolerance policy, the UP Police are cracking down on criminals on the one hand and the prosecution department is playing a key role in courts by putting up a strong case and ensuring the strictest punishment for them. As a result, there has been a decrease in criminal activities in the state,' the spokesperson said. As an example, he said, various courts in the state have awarded punishments in over 30,000 cases over the last three years. /IANS