March,29,2016:
It would be similar to the '911' all-in-one emergency service in the US.
Indian citizens in distress will soon be able to get help emergency service, 112, for all emergency services in the country, including the police, fire brigade and ambulance.
At present, such callers need to dial in different numbers for different emergencies like 100 for police, 101 for fire, 102 for ambulance and 108 for emergency disaster management. The move, recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in April 2015, was approved by the Telecom Commission on Monday.
“It will be rolled out within months rather than a year,” official sources said.
The proposal to have a single number for various emergency services, approved by the inter-ministerial panel telecom commission, would be similar to the '911' all-in-one emergency service in the US.
All other existing emergency numbers will be phased out within a year of rolling out 112, depending upon the awareness about this new facility.
"Telecom commission has accepted Trai's recommendation on single emergency number 112. It will now be drafted by the Department of Telecom and will require Telecom Minister's (Ravi Shankar Prasad) approval. It will be rolled out within months rather than a year," an official source told PTI.
The source said the panel has accepted recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) after including clarifications given by it.
In India, different emergency communication and response systems are in place - police (100), fire brigade (101), ambulance (102) and Emergency Disaster Management (108).
Also, a number of states have notified various helpline numbers for assistance to special categories of citizens, like Woman in distress - 181 (Delhi), Missing Children and Women - 1094 (Delhi), Crime Against Women - 1096 (Delhi), Police Headquarter helpline - 1090 (Uttar Pradesh) etc.
TRAI had said: “In emergency situations every passing second counts, whether it is a burglary, theft, road-rage, or a fire spreading, or a citizen struggling with a heart attack — the first few minutes are crucial. It is likely that crucial time may be lost in figuring out what number to dial.” For users, it would be simpler and desirable to have a single number for all types of emergencies, it had added.
TRAI had proposed that the existing emergency numbers be retained as secondary numbers and the calls made to them be re-routed to ‘112’. However, once calls to the secondary numbers reduce significantly, they can be withdrawn gradually.
Picture Source :
