India’s New Emergency Number 112 Will Go Live In 2017
A couple of weeks back we reported that India is planning to replace its current emergency numbers with one single number. Just like United States' 911, India will now use 112 for all the emergency services. The number has been now approved by th Telecom and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
112 will go live in India starting January 1, 2017.
Just like the previous emergency numbers, you can just dial 112 in the case of emergencies and it will then redirect you to the service which you want. All the old emergency numbers, like for example 100 for Police, 101 for Fire Brigade, 102 for Ambulance and 108 for Emergency Disaster Management will phase out after the successful roll out of 112, which the authorities believe will take around a year.
Along with phone call, users would also be able to use the emergency services through SMS, as the system will automatically learn the location of the caller and will then share it with the nearest help centre. As it is an emergency number so you can access it even when your phone’s outgoing facility is suspended are not available.
Thanks to this now we don't have to remember different numbers for different services. We can just dial 112 and get the required help.