The telecom regulatory of India (TRAI) has proposed a single emergency number ‘112’ for all kind of emergency phone calls across India, including for police, fire and ambulance, similar to the all-in-one emergency number ‘911’in the United States of America. If the proposal is implemented, the central government will integrate all existing emergency numbers 100, 101, 102 and 108 into the proposed 112 helpline number.

In case of emergency, the call directly goes to the emergency response system (ERS). A software will interpret the call and chooses the appropriate response and dispatch. The ERS will be able to receive voice calls from landlines, mobile phones, public pay phones, Internet as well as multi-line telephone systems, voice and text messages. It should be noted that calls can be made from even outgoing facility barred phones.

The Telecom and Internet service providers will have to work together, so that the location can be easily traced. The calls and text messages will reach the nearest public safety answering point or the control room. The emergency response centres will function under the police commissioners in major cities and district magistrates in other urban hubs. TRAI also recommended setting up of Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP) to handle distress calls.

Tidbits

1. The TRAI was established on February 1997 by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997.
2. TRAI was set up to regulate telecom services, including fixation/revision of tariffs for telecom services which were earlier vested in the Central Government.
3. In 2000, Telecommunications Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) was established, to take over the adjudicatory and disputes functions from TRAI.
4. The current Chairman of TRAI is Rahul Khullar.