The days are gone when you had to remember numbers for the numerous emergency facilities. The Government has now been swapped by a single helpline emergency number – 112.
The Government of India launched a single emergency number ‘112’. The Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) is now obtainable in 16 states and union territories through India.
112 will be the widespread helpline number for the ERSS which offers crisis services for police (100), fire (101), health (108) and women (1090). The response time for the emergency helpline is said to be around 10 to 12 minutes. This is expected to come down to 8 minutes within the next 6-8 months.
Here’s how you can initiate the 112 emergency helpline number:
- The easiest step is to dial 112 from your phone to reach the helpline.
- Smartphone users can press the power button thrice to initiate the fright call for 112.
- Feature phone users can long press 5 or 9 key to activate the fright call.
- Users can also contact the ERSS’ website for the state to send an emergency email or send SOS alert to state ERC.
- 112 India app is accessible on Google Play Store and App Store. This app auto-detects the user’s location and sends a fright signal whenever instigated.
- For women and children, the app also provides a special SHOUT feature which alerts enumerated volunteers close to the victim for instant aid.
A pan-India single number (112) based Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) is being launched in New Delhi. Join… https://t.co/CCQLO09TBo
— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) February 19, 2019
At present, the 112 emergency helpline number has been started for 16 states and union territories including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala,
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Puducherry, Lakshwadeep, Andaman, Dadar Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Jammu and Kashmir.
It was first launched in Himachal Pradesh and Nagaland. The helpline number will be progressively rolled out to the rest of the country.
This saves the stress of learning numerous numbers for numerous emergency services.
