Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday launched emergency helpline number 112 for women security and immediate assistance to anyone in distress in 16 states. The 112 helpline is an integration of police (100), fire (101) and women (1090) helpline numbers. The health helpline (108) will be integrated with it soon.
Launching the ‘112’ helpline, under the Emergency Response Support System (ERSS), Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the central government is committed to the safety of citizens, particularly women, for whom laws were changed to ensure the guilty is punished in a time-bound manner. “The helpline number ‘112’ will be activated across the country by next year and anyone in distress can reach the helpline by pressing a single key of phones which will be pre-programmed,” he said.
The 16 states and Union Teritories are Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Andaman, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Jammu and Kashmir.
The ‘112’ helpline has already been launched in Himachal Pradesh and Nagaland.
To access emergency services, a person can dial ‘112’ on a phone or press the power button of a smart phone three times quickly to send a panic call to the Emergency Response Centre. In case of a normal phone, a long press of the ‘5’ or ‘9’ key will activate the panic call. People can also log onto the ERSS website for the respective state and send an emergency email or SOS alert to state ERC. They can use
‘112’ India mobile app, which is available free on Google Play Store and Apple Store. The single number for emergency services is similar to ‘911’ in the United States.
The Home Minister said safe city implementation monitoring portal will instill a sense of security in women in metro cities. “The Government has identified eight cities for implementation of safe city projects in first phase at a cost of Rs 2,919 crore. The cities are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow and Mumbai. The projects are funded under Nirbhaya Fund scheme,” he said.
