‘112’ to be common no. for all emergency services

Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

Mandi, January 18

The state Police Department will replace emergency call number ‘100’ with ‘112’ under the Centre’s Nationwide Emergency Respond System (NERS). People in distress will have to dial ‘112’ for police assistance.

Under this project, ‘112’ will be the single common number for help during emergency situations. All other emergency numbers like 100 for the police, 101 for fire brigade 102 for ambulance will be replaced by the common number.

A centre will be set up in the state headquarters for receiving calls from people in distress and state police officials are expecting to launch the emergency number service in the next couple of months.

According to sources, Himachal Pradesh has received a sum of Rs 5 crore to start this scheme as a pilot project. Under this scheme, a call centre will be set up on the lines of ‘108’ ambulance service in the state where hundreds of people will be able to speak easily at a time to seek police assistance in time of need. The system will be operated via software.

A device will be installed in the vehicles of every police station and police posts in which the application of this software will be inserted.

Also, this app will be installed on mobile phones of police personnel. As soon as the caller calls 112, his location will also be seen at the call centre. The call centre will then contact the police station, police post or police personnel near the location of the caller for providing help. Efforts will be made to provide help immediately.

Interestingly, if mobile number of the caller stops working after seeking help, the location of caller will still be traced.

When contacted, Director General of Police Somesh Goyal said the process was under way and funds had been received to execute the project.

He said it would take some time to start the single helpline number under Centre’s Nationwide Emergency Respond System (NERS) and the progress was under way.

It is expected that after the single helpline number system is in place, it will solve the grievances of the people in which it is often said that the police did not respond at the right time. Designed on the lines of ‘911’ in the USA, the NERS was conceptualised in the aftermath of the 2012 gang rape of the woman in a bus in Delhi.

Rs 5 crore received for project

• The state has received a sum of Rs 5 cr to start this scheme as a pilot project
• All emergency numbers like 100 for the police, 101 for fire brigade 102 for ambulance will be replaced by a common number 
• A call centre will be set up on the lines of ‘108’ ambulance service in the state where hundreds of people will be able to speak at a time to seek police assistance
• Designed on the lines of ‘911’ in the USA, the Nationwide Emergency Respond System was conceptualised in the aftermath of the 2012 gang rape of the woman in a bus in Delhi