Soon, people will just have to dial single number — 112 — for help in all emergency situations. For, the UT Administration has received a grant of Rs 4.5 crore from the Ministry of Home Affairs for setting up the National Emergency Response Service: 112. Sources said that the UT Administration might begin the trial of the new number from September.
Home Secretary Anurag Aggarwal confirmed the development saying that the National Emergency Response Service — 112 — would soon be implemented in Chandigarh. At present, there are different helpline numbers for police, ambulance and fire department. But once the single number comes into force, all other numbers will phase out gradually.
The Centre’s move is on the lines of all-in-one emergency service — 911 — in the US. In preparations for implementing the single number in Chandigarh, a control room will be set up and it will coordinate with all other telecom companies. Usually the existing numbers get connected in Punjab or Haryana when a person from UT dials the emergency numbers, be it for the police or ambulance or fire. Sometimes calls of even those dialling from Panchkula or Mohali are connected in UT, leaving several harassed.
Sources said that the control room which is to be set up for the new number is being planned at the UT Police headquarters in Sector 9, Chandigarh, and the staff attending to the emergency calls would be under the UT Administration.
“We won’t stop the existing helpline numbers immediately but phase them out gradually. It is really difficult for people to remember different helpline numbers. We plan to introduce the single number soon,” another officer said.
The new number will be linked with emergency services so that the operator attending to the calls at 112 is able to connect to local hospitals, police or fire department, depending upon the kind of help asked for by the caller.
