‘112’ to be Indian Emergency Number: India to get 991 like an emergency number as ‘112’ as a single number for all emergency services. The single emergency number ‘112’ will be available throughout India starting from January 1, 2017. The emergency number will help people to reach emergency services of Police, Ambulance, and Fire department.
Indian Emergency Number to be available from Jan 2017
“Single emergency number ‘112’ will be operational from January 1,” a senior government official told. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Indian Telecom minister has approved the provision of a single number for various emergency services.This services would be similar to the ‘911’ emergency service available in the US.
The emergency service will also be accessible from SIMs and landlines whose outgoing call facility has been temporarily suspended or stopped. A person in need of service needs to call 112, which will direct the call accordingly to concerned departments immediately for help in case of emergency.
Existing Emergency Numbers to be removed
All the existing emergency numbers like 100,101,102,108 etc. will be replaced by 112 and soon to be removed based on the awareness of the new service. In India, different emergency communication service and response systems are already available like
- Police. – 100
- Fire Brigade. – 101
- Ambulance. – 102
- Emergency Disaster Management. – 108
- Indian Emergency Number -112
“Telecom operators have been asked to direct all emergency calls to 112. The process to direct calls made on to 112 to concerned departments is being worked out,” the official said.
Apart from voice calls, the user will be able to communicate even through SMS Messages and the emergency system setup will find the location of the messenger which will be communicated with the nearest help centre.
Indian People will be able to add Indian Emergency Number – ‘112’ in the panic button system which will be available on all mobile phones from January 1 as directed by Law.
Also Read: Panic Button for all the Mobile Phones in India to be Mandatory from 2017
The panic button service will enable customers to make send alerts or an emergency call to multiple numbers just by pressing the panic button. Inbuilt GPS navigation system would become mandatory for all the mobile phones from Jan 1, 2018, will help in navigation in emergency situations.
GPS Mandatory from Jan 2018
Inbuilt GPS navigation system would become mandatory for all the mobile phones from Jan 1, 2018, will help in navigation in emergency situations.
The emergency service calls will get supported with the help of a call centre like facility, which will have executives speaking in Hindi, English and their local language. “At present, there are call centres which handle emergency number calls. They will be asked to handle calls on 112 as well. Besides, the requirement of additional capacity is being worked out which will be in place by January 1,” the official said.
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