Emergency helpline 112 to be implemented in December
Posted on: 17/Jul/2018 11:42:44 AM
A new contact number for any emergency, 112 is to be set up throughout the country by the central government. This emergency number 112 will be set up in Tamil Nadu in December this year.
There are several emergency numbers in use -
- Police help – 100
- Ambulance – 108
- Children’s help – 1098
- Senior citizens’ help – 1253
- Firefighting – 101
So, some confusion prevails among the public. BSNL incurs extra expenses in setting up these emergency services and maintaining them.
So, the central government has decided to substitute all the above numbers with only a single contact number for the emergency – ‘112’.
In order to implement and expedite this plan, a high-level committee of the state Chief Secretaries has been formed. The DHPs and higher officials from the Department of Technology have been included as consultants.
The central government has decided to introduce this service in Tamil Nadu in the 1st Phase and allotted Rs. 9 Crores for the same. Subsequently, the higher officials of the Technology Department have expedited the activity of integrating the emergency contact numbers of the Police department and the Fire Fighting Department.
The higher police officials informed in this regard that the number ‘911’ is used in the USA for emergency calls. Similarly, ‘112’ is used in countries such as Australia and others. Immediate help will be rendered. In a similar trend, the central government has planned to introduce ‘112’ as the single common number for all emergencies. In Tamil Nadu, the facility to dial ‘100’ for Police Help is already available. Further, for the safety of women, ‘Kavalan – SOS’ and ‘Kavalan – Dial 100’ mobile Apps have been introduced.
A fully computerized Police Department hi-tech central control centre has been functioning as headquarters to monitor these operations at Chennai Egmore. Provisions are currently being made for including the new emergency number ‘112’ to be received by the control centre when called.
Further, the activities are in progress to integrate all the emergency number under the single number of ‘112’. Presently, the activity of integrating the emergency contact numbers of the Police Department and the fire-fighting department is in progress. The latest hi-tech equipment including tablets with features such as voice recording facility and GPS is to be procured for the Department of Fire Fighting.
Whether the mobile phone used for calling has SIM card or not, it is just sufficient to dial ‘112’. Further, while pressing the ‘power button’ thrice in succession or dialing the numbers ‘5’ or ‘9’ continuously, the calls will land in the central room centre.
The facility to use ‘112’ as the emergency call number is being planned to be implemented in the state of Tamil Nadu before December. The higher officials informed that once this is set up, the presently used other emergency numbers such as 100 and 101 will all be removed.
The Department staff has difficulties to fully understand the procedure and intricacies of setting up this single emergency contact number. Hence, there is an apprehension as well about the successful implementation. Hence, the Department of Police is acting with the utmost caution and responsibility and proceed to explain the procedures clearly to the higher officials of other departments.
