Telecom Commission approves 112 as the single emergency number
The Telecom Commission has approved the number 112 as the single emergency number for India, similar to 911 of United States (US) and 999 of United Kingdom (UK).
Henceforth Indian citizens in distress will be able to get all emergency services such as police, fire department and ambulance by just dialling this single-number. It will direct the call to concerned departments immediately for help.
Key facts
- The service will also be accessible even through those landlines and mobile connections whose outgoing call facility has been temporarily suspended or stopped.
- Person in distress will be also able to make emergency communication even through SMS.
- This emergency system has facility to directly learn about the location of the caller or message sender that will be shared with the nearest help centre.
- The service will be operated and functioned by a call centre like facility. It will have representatives speaking in English, Hindi and the local language.
At present, different Indian states have notified various emergency helpline numbers for assistance to special categories of citizens. With this 112 as the single emergency number, all existing emergency numbers such as police (100), ambulance (102), fire brigade (101) and Emergency Disaster Management (108) will be phased out.
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Month: Current Affairs - March, 2016