Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government is mulling to launch an emergency response support system (ERSS) replacing all the emergency helpline numbers with a single integrated number ‘112’.
The Odisha Police has recently invited bidders to register their particulars in the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal in which the state police will put the details of the bid to hire vehicles and call centre executives for ERSS.
As per the notification, altogether 198 call takers would be appointed at ERSS call centre and 236 vehicles earmarked to attend the calls received through ERSS mobile app, 112 number or online through the ERSS website. Speaking to Orissa POST, a top police source revealed that the system will be launched in the state soon. The citizens in distress will not be required to remember different helpline numbers like 100 (police), 101 (fire and rescue) and 108 (ambulance), 181 (woman and childcare) during the time of distress. The person in distress can get response in real-time with coordinated efforts of all the emergency services through ERSS call centre by simply dialing the integrated number 112. A call centre with digital map and all the advanced tracking systems will be established under ERSS jointly funded by the state and union government.”
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had already launched the nation-wide ERSS in 16 states and union territories (UTs) across the country in February 2019.
The states and UTs where the services have been launched include: Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Puducherry, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Lakshadweep, Andaman, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu. ERSS will address all the emergency signals received from citizens in distress through various mediums like voice call, e-mail, SMS, panic SOS signal, ERSS web portal.