The people of Odisha will no longer have to dial separate helpline numbers to avail different emergencies as the State government has integrated services to the unified emergency number 112.
In the first phase, the emergency call numbers 100 and 101 of the police and fire service respectively, have been integrated into the single emergency number 112.
This single-number (Dial-112) service will be beneficial for all, especially women and elderly persons. This number will work for the safety, dignity and welfare of all by providing faster, prompter and immediate response during emergency and distress, the Odisha police said in an official statement.
People can also download '112 India Mobile App' and register themselves as 112 Volunteers to help others in their locality during any distress.
Chief Secretary Suresh Mohapatra has asked the Home Department to undertake continuous and extensive awareness campaigns about the new unified helpline number so that people can make use of the system.
On the other hand, issues relating to the integration of 108 ambulance services with the new number were discussed in the meeting chaired by the CS. Mohapatra has asked the authorities to maintain extra care in service delivery during the process of transition from 108 to 112.
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As per data furnished by the Director, the National Health Mission Shalini Pandit, on average, around 30,000 calls per day are being received through 108 out of which more than 20,000 calls related to ambulance service only.
In order to ensure smooth transitioning of the helpline 108 to 112, the CS has directed officials to make the new system fully equipped both in terms of technology, manpower and real-time location monitoring of the ambulances, appropriately train the personnel at the call centre.
Sources said, after stabilization of the new unified system, emergency helpline numbers of other departments would be integrated with it in phases.
At present, the State emergency response centre (SERC) functions 24X7 with 124 call-takers with computers aided digitized systems and 551 vehicles for providing services.
As per official data, a total number of 8708 calls were registered in the SERC out of which 7,957 were related to police services, 585 were related to fire services and 166 calls were provided services through the call centre itself. Besides, 1,915 calls were forwarded to ambulance services.
What Is Dial 112 & How Does It Work
Single emergency number 112 works under Emergency Response Support System to address all emergency signals received from citizens through voice call, SMS, e-mail, panic SOS signal, ERSS web portal etc.
A mobile App called ‘112 India’ is introduced by Govt. of India, to quickly raise a request for help when a person is in emergency, by pressing a button to send alert messages with location data and make emergency calls to 112. This facility will aid the concerned service agencies to reach out to the requestor quickly.
The automated facility being set up for this purpose in the capital cities of all States and UTs, called Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), will handle all these emergency signals and provide assistance available to the people in distress within the best possible time with the help of Police, Fire & Rescue, Health services etc.
ERSS tracks the rescue and service vehicles of all services (Police, Fire, Health etc) in real-time on a digital map of the State/UT and hence it will be possible to direct the right vehicle(s) to reach the service requestor and provide necessary support immediately.