The Telecom Commission approved a single-number helpline “112” to avail emergency services like police, ambulance and fire department across India, reported Media. The roll-out of the new service is expected to take place within a year, after gradually phasing out different numbers for different emergencies.
The proposal to unify all emergency point of contacts into a single number was proposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as a part of its recommendations to the telecom department last April.
Currently, callers need to dial different numbers for various emergency services, such as 100 for police, 101 for fire department and 102 for ambulance. Some states have their own emergency helpline numbers, like Delhi has 181 for women in distress, 1094 for missing children and women, and 1096 for crime against women. But 112 emergency helpline will change that by redirecting callers to the concerned departments.