Dial '112': Single Point of Contact for All Emergency Services in India

BENGALURU: The hassle of determining the correct number to call from 100, 101, 102 and 108 in the state of emergency situations can take a toll on any person’s head. The government has smartly addressed this issue by introducing a single contact number ‘112’ for various emergency services inclusive of police, fire, ambulance, and disaster management, reports ET.

Till date, ‘100’ is called for emergency police help, 101 is dialed for fire brigade, 102 and 108 are used for quick ambulance facility and emergency disaster management, respectively. The government of United States has already been using a unified number ‘911’ for all the emergency services.

According to the reports by Times of India, one of the government officials conveyed, "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 approval. It will be rolled out within months rather than a year." Any person in distress will be able to avail all the facilities needed in emergency in one single call.

The existing numbers for emergency services will still be available for one more year. Eventually after ensuring that people all over India are aware of the new all-in-one facility ‘112’ for all the emergency services, government will decide to replace existing numbers with ‘112’.

In cases where outgoing call facility of SIMs or landlines has been debarred or the service is temporarily suspended, users will still be able to dial 112 to immediately avail emergency services without any wait. Additionally, users can also communicate through sending a SMS which will enable the response system to locate the person seeking emergency service and forward the message to the nearest help center.

As a next step for the future, emergency help-line number 112 will be operated by a call center facility having representatives communicating in Hindi, English, and the local language to easily resolve the issues and help the person seeking help in the best way possible.

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