Soon, dial 112 for police, fire brigade and an ambulance in Maharashtra

The home department will roll out the services, which will reduce the response time and also introduce dedicated apps and SMS services.

Soon, a single emergency number — 112 — that will integrate services of police, fire brigade and medical help, is likely to be a reality in the state. The home department will roll out the services, which will reduce the response time and also introduce dedicated apps and SMS services.

Picture for representation (HT File)

In accordance with the central government’s directive, the state cabinet approved a Rs429 crore plan a few weeks ago to roll out the service in 10 big cities and later in all the districts.

The project chalked out by the home department will have new 1,000 patrolling vans, with a global positioning system and vehicle tracking system installed in them. This will enable the police to reach out to complainants within minutes.

Currently, the response time of the police is 20 minutes. It was 12 minutes in Thane for a study conducted to prepare a detailed project report for the project by the consultant. With higher number of vehicles and system to track them as well as existing vehicles with the police, the response time is expected significantly. The new mechanism will have the caller identification system, which will help to reduce the fake calls

The official said that though the Mumbai police’s control room is best in the state, the home department has also proposed to upgrade it too. “Once launched, the emergency number system will integrate with 100, 101 and 108 dialed for police, fire and ambulance services respectively. There would be no problem in integration of the ambulance services with immediate effect but the fire brigades have been using decades-old technology and their upgradation is unlikely come in anytime soon,” he said.