Emulating the 911 helpline service of the USA where American Police personnel receive all emergency calls on one phone number, the Delhi Police too is planning to set up a separate helpline phone number 112.
Delhi has received Rs 12 crore for rolling out 112 emergency helpline.
The 112 emergency helpline will be a one stop number for all emergency situations such as fire and ambulance services apart from crime related calls. Sanjay Baniwal, Special Commiss-ioner of Police (Operations) told The Pioneer that the step to launch 112 is still in nascent stages. “However, at the right time, it will be implemented and executed,” the Special CP added.
According to a senior police official with the Police Control Room (PCR) Unit that is handling the setting up of 112, in the beginning we will use the PCR unit at the Haiderpur next to the Max Hospital in Shalimar Bagh as a dummy set up where we will combine all the calls coming to us. “The calls we receive at 100 will be combined with 112. We currently have 50 lines for 100. With the launch of 112, we will add 10 more lines in the initial phase just for 112,” he said.
The official said, “The PCR is located at the Police Headquartres at ITO. However, we are planning to use the Haiderpur center. Once we are able to function smoothly from the Haiderpur unit, we will expand the 112 services to PCR units all across Delhi,” said Baniwal, adding that the 112 emergency helpline will be the go-to solution for availing all kinds of emergency services like fire control and ambulances.
Talking about how the introduction of the new line 112 will add to the already overburdened staff dealing with 100 helpline, the officer said, “Per day we receive 25,000-27,000 calls on 100. With the introduction of 112, the number of calls will definitely double up. We have started inviting tenders”.
Another official said from November 30 the PCR unit will link the Centralised Ambulance Trauma Services (CATS) helpline to 100.
“We are developing a control room in Haiderpur that will be taking calls made to 112, but since there are directions that it should be rolled out soon, we will take the load on our existing phonelines from the last week of November.”
The official further said the MHA is monitoring the implementation of the proposed service. With this system in place the issue of hoax calls will be addressed too. “Once the helpline 112 is rolled out, we will provide competent training to our PCR staff. With time, the problem of hoax calls too will be dealt with easily like it is dealt with for 100 number.”
The Delhi Police will soon be inviting tenders for buying hardware required, sources said.