112 - common emergency service number - Fusion - WeRIndia

Soon, there will be a single number for all emergency services such as ambulance, police and fire department. Indian government is planning for this. The number 112 will be the single number to provide all emergency services. This is similar to 911 which is an all-in-one emergency service number of the US.

Inter-ministerial panel telecom commission approved the proposal of having a single number for various emergency services. It accepted the recommendations of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on having 112 as the emergency number. Now it needs to be drafted by the Department of Telecom, which will be sent to the approval of Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. Then, the number will be rolled out as a single emergency number.

Awareness will be created among people on this new facility of having a single number. Within a year of rolling out of the number 112, the other emergency numbers which are existing at present will be phased out.

At present various emergency contact numbers exist  in India, such as 100 for police services, 101 for fire brigade, 102 to get ambulance services and 108 for Emergency Disaster Management. In addition to that, different states have different helpline numbers to assist citizens in various cities. For instance, dialing 181 helps Women in distress, 1094 helps in finding Missing Children and Women, and 1096 protects Crime against Women in Delhi, and 1090 is a Police Headquarter helpline in Uttar Pradesh.

If the new facility comes into force, people will not have to remember and dial various numbers in different emergency situations as they do at present. Rather, they can just dial a single number 112 to get help in any emergency situations. The new service can also be availed through those SIMs and landlines whose outgoing call facility has been stopped or temporarily suspended. A user will also be able to request emergency services through SMS. The system will use the cell tower of the user to learn the location of the sender, and that information will be shared with nearest help centre.

A call centre like facility will operate this new facility and the representatives will speak in Hindi, English and the local language.

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