Pune: Soon, people in the State will dial 112 to avail emergency services like police, fire or ambulance. In the first phase the ‘Maharashtra Emergency Response System’ (MERS) dial 112 will be launched in 16 districts including Pune.
Maharashtra Police have floated a request for proposal (RFP) for selection of system integrator to supply, install, commission and maintain the MERS.
The first phase is to be completed by December 2018. Police personnel will man the district control rooms for sending response teams. The response time is expected to be between 5 to 8 minutes, officials said.
Soon, ‘112’ will be the national emergency number in India, similar to the ‘911’ in the US and ‘999’ in the UK. In India, there have been different emergency numbers to call Police (100), Fire (101) and Ambulance (108).
The roll-out of 112 will see a gradual phase-out of the existing emergency numbers. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs released guidelines on nationwide emergency response system in August 2015. The Central government has recommended setting up of a public emergency response system which will have the ability to dispatch an Emergency Response (ER) unit to respond and close the ER calls.
MERS will operate on centralised call receiving and decentralised dispatch model.
The MERS project will provide response to citizens’ emergencies through centralised call receiving at Navi Mumbai (primary contact centre), and Nagpur (secondary contact centre) and de-centralised dispatch at respective District Control Rooms (DCRs).
The call receivers, dispatchers and other staff will be given soft skills training. Call etiquettes and call scripts will be provided to the trainees. The call takers will have proficiency in Marathi, Hindi, understanding of English and other local languages. The call takers will work in three shifts round the clock, 365 days a year, the tender document states.
Phase-wise implementation
Duration for implementation of Phase I would be nine months. Phase I will see roll-out of MERS at Thane, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chandrapur, Bhandara, Gondia, Wardha, Amravati, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Kolhapur, Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri and Raigad followed by state-wide implementation. Existing emergency response set-ups will continue to function until the centralised Dial 112 Emergency Response System is stabilised.
How will 112 function?
Contact centre call receivers will be the first point of contact to receive calls, gather information and forward the details to the field locations/ control rooms and dispatch units depending on the location of the caller. Dispatchers at District Control Rooms would receive the information and relevant caller details. They will locate the nearest vehicle, shortest route and nearest police station to the incident site and take further action in coordination with police emergency vehicles. Emergency Response Vehicle (ERVs) deployed on the field would be equipped with MDTs (Mobile Data Terminals) that will enable locating the ERVs on GIS map and receive information about the incidents. Further action by the ERV would be updated in the MDT and in the system.
Features of 112 emergency system
The callers will have a facility to rate the quality of service provided by the MERS response team, inbound call taking and outbound calls to people. No call will go unanswered and every call will get a unique ID for follow up.
There will be computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system for emergency response management. Senior officers can monitor MERS cases through the mobile app. Through patrol management, emergency vehicles will be tracked and sent to the caller’s location with the help of high precision and comprehensive GIS maps, Geofencing. If any call gets disconnected or caller hangs up, there will be a call back within 10 minutes.
There will be sign language interpreter for handling non-voice calls of people with special needs.
WHAT WILL PEOPLE GET?
- Avail emergency services of MERS Dial 112 through multiple channels including panic button, mobile phone, land-line, SMS, IOT, email, chat and mobile app.
- Register as a volunteer to support MERS calls for translation in Indian and foreign languages.
- Upload data such as pictures or videos related to events as and when relevant
- Provide feedback on quality of services provided through MERS Dial 112.
