Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommends use of Telephone Number ‘112’ for all Emergencies…
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommended use of a single number ‘112’ for all emergencies in the country (India). Presently, callers in India need to dial different numbers for different emergencies such as 100 for Police, 101 for Fire, 102 for Ambulance and 108 for Emergency Disaster Management.
This announcement from TRAI was a good move because during emergency situations, every passing second is precious, whether it is a burglary, theft, road rage, fire spreading, heart attack, etc., – the first few minutes are crucial. It is likely that crucial time may be lost in figuring out what number to dial.
From a user’s perspective, it is simpler and desirable to have a single number for all types of emergencies.
It also proposed that existing emergency numbers be retained as secondary numbers and the calls made to them be re-routed to ‘112’. As per the recommendations, callers seeking help should be able to dial ’112’ even from mobile or landline phones where outgoing facility has been debarred or the service temporarily suspended. SMS-based access for the emergency services has also been proposed.
Source : THE HINDU